2.10.2007
2.07.2007
Learning 2
Well once again i am talking about what i am learning about my topic. One thing i can say is that i have been getting more into looking for scholarly sources rather than unverified articles on misc websites around the internet. EBSCOhost is a pretty cool tool that Red Rocks has allowed all of its students access to... So far i have found a few PDFs about my topic and need to go through them and check out what information i can use within.
One thing that i really dont like doing is printing and reading a 20 page article and annotating it as i read.. I am really into the whole digital age- i think i am doing pretty well on blogs, although i can't say i'm a big fan... Even though i would never call myself one, or for that matter let someone else call me a tree hugger- for one thing i don't like wasting paper. I don't think it helps the process, writing is slower than my typing will ever be, and it seems to a certain degree that i am more inclined to read something on a computer screen as opposed to reading something on paper. Anyway I am going to see what i can do about it - i really would rather just use MS Word to make notes on a PDF or something and save it so i can modify and reference it later on.
Anyway now that i am done with my stint against printing.. I really feel that legalizing all drugs is probably the wrong way to go with my topic.
I think this is what i intend to prove with my paper- or at least make an argument at.
If i were to drink 10 liters of alcohol, it would probably kill me.
If i were to snort a kilo of cocaine, it would probably kill me.
If i were to take 6 hits of X, it would probably kill me.
If i were to shoot up a pound of heroin, it would kill me.
All of these things have one thing in common. They are man made drugs.
If i were to eat a pound of mushrooms, i would probably be throwing up for 4 hours and be high as a kite.
If i were to smoke a pound of marijuana, i would probably eat my weight in Cheeto's within the hour.
If i were to eat 15 grams of peyote, i would probably be spiritually enlightened for the next 24 hours.
So unless you haven't gotten the point - I believe and intend to prove that naturally occuring psychoactive drugs should be legalized due to their harmless effects on the human mind and body (and therefore the social, economic and political structure of the nation).
Research question: Why are naturally occurring psychoactive drugs dubbed illicit and illegal in the United States?
One thing that i really dont like doing is printing and reading a 20 page article and annotating it as i read.. I am really into the whole digital age- i think i am doing pretty well on blogs, although i can't say i'm a big fan... Even though i would never call myself one, or for that matter let someone else call me a tree hugger- for one thing i don't like wasting paper. I don't think it helps the process, writing is slower than my typing will ever be, and it seems to a certain degree that i am more inclined to read something on a computer screen as opposed to reading something on paper. Anyway I am going to see what i can do about it - i really would rather just use MS Word to make notes on a PDF or something and save it so i can modify and reference it later on.
Anyway now that i am done with my stint against printing.. I really feel that legalizing all drugs is probably the wrong way to go with my topic.
I think this is what i intend to prove with my paper- or at least make an argument at.
If i were to drink 10 liters of alcohol, it would probably kill me.
If i were to snort a kilo of cocaine, it would probably kill me.
If i were to take 6 hits of X, it would probably kill me.
If i were to shoot up a pound of heroin, it would kill me.
All of these things have one thing in common. They are man made drugs.
If i were to eat a pound of mushrooms, i would probably be throwing up for 4 hours and be high as a kite.
If i were to smoke a pound of marijuana, i would probably eat my weight in Cheeto's within the hour.
If i were to eat 15 grams of peyote, i would probably be spiritually enlightened for the next 24 hours.
So unless you haven't gotten the point - I believe and intend to prove that naturally occuring psychoactive drugs should be legalized due to their harmless effects on the human mind and body (and therefore the social, economic and political structure of the nation).
Research question: Why are naturally occurring psychoactive drugs dubbed illicit and illegal in the United States?
2.05.2007
Primary Research
One thing that i havent done a lot in the past is primary research. I think this makes for a better paper because it allows the writer to really get into their topic, and become involved in the process more. The thing that i always used to do was get a lot of information off of the internet, paraphrase and summarize it to make it part of my paper (and of course citations). I think that the problem with this is that the information other people give you isnt necessarily credible, and can lead to questioning of your paper instead of the sources you gave.
Well anyway, I think the best thing to do- and i guess i have to do it- is an interview with someone. Who that might be, i am unsure of as of late.. but i do have some suggestions from my classmates. One thing i thought of was to interview one senator who is for the legalization of drugs, and one who is not. Depending on how i choose to write my paper i think there may be some better alternatives. One suggestion was to interview a social worker who works with drug addicts.
Over the next few days i am going to have to narrow down my topic and start to do some work on my primary research- setting up the interview(s) and making sure i have my questions researched and ready.
Well anyway, I think the best thing to do- and i guess i have to do it- is an interview with someone. Who that might be, i am unsure of as of late.. but i do have some suggestions from my classmates. One thing i thought of was to interview one senator who is for the legalization of drugs, and one who is not. Depending on how i choose to write my paper i think there may be some better alternatives. One suggestion was to interview a social worker who works with drug addicts.
Over the next few days i am going to have to narrow down my topic and start to do some work on my primary research- setting up the interview(s) and making sure i have my questions researched and ready.
1.31.2007
Learning 1
Well, again i guess i am learning some more about my topic..
During class discussion it helped bring up some issues with my topic. For instance: should a new mother be able to do whatever she wants with her body- if she is carrying a baby?
To be honest, this kind of argument is something that should be left solely to abortion- after all, millions of women abuse prescription drugs as well as illegal narcotics that may be of some detriment to the baby they are carrying. In reality- if they cared, they wouldn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or even eat the wrong food when carrying a baby.
One of the better arguments that i have been thinking about for quite some time now, which was reinforced by another of my classmates: Legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illicit drugs (illegal or not). This brings up the age old debate- should i get drunk, or should i smoke up? I think the main problem with this argument though is that it cannot include a lot of the drugs which are on the Schedule I listing. For example, the effect of LSD or any man made drugs (cocaine, heroin, PCP, meth) is much worst than that of a simple plant that grows in the ground- cannabis.
This topic has proven to have far too many sections...
Man made drugs and their effects vs natural herbs classified as "Drugs" and their effects
Effects on the workplace - according to this 15% of Americans drink on the job, what could be next?
"Forbidden fruit effect" - because it is illegal, is it cooler to do drugs/drink under age?
Learning from the past- will people see what happened in the 50s to 80s and realize that drugs are a major cultural influence, and will continue to be one whether they are illegal or not?
If we successfully legalize drugs in the United States, how much of the prison system will be cleared out? How much of the organized crime element will be taken out?- all of it? How much surplus in tax money will we have to better fund public schools, take care of our roads and historical landmarks, or set aside for social security?
What has history traditionally showed in nation's who have legalized or are on the verge of legalizing drugs? Revolt? Rebellion?
Why should millions of Americans be allowed to be alcoholics after they are twenty-one, but are not allowed to become marijuana smokers?- an arguably less detrimental thing
In the United States, the legal drinking age is 21- yet there are 19 year old alcoholics. In Germany there is no drinking age, and there are far fewer alcoholics.
Liz Kleinfeld
I think the first step i need to take in my research is to find out what happened Holland when they legalized drugs. From what i have seen from prior research: In Amsterdam there are places where heroin addicts have "safe shoot up spots" where they can buy a syringe and use a drug they have become addicted to- in order to be productive in their daily lives. I think that is one of the stone cold facts is that when a person becomes so dependent and addicted to something- without it they cannot function, at all.
One thing that has kind of deterred me from focusing on one specific drug, is that- in most cases- it is contradictory to legalize one, but not the other. I think that marijuana is the exception to the rule- it should have never been made illegal and primarily was due to its popular use during the 60s by hippie war protesters. (a bold move by Nixon to rid the white house front lawn of "non-patriotic Americans")
So for all intents and purposes i could write a paper about how alcohol and marijuana are almost sister drugs- and the only reason why marijuana did not remain legal is because of its nearly non-existent prevalence up until the late 50s, early 60s. How the previous of the two has been known world wide to cause hundreds of thousands if not millions of deaths each year- while the latter has not been documented to have ever caused a death (maybe i lied), and has never been scientifically proven to be a major cause of lung cancer.
down at the bottom
Now I am starting to sound like a druggie.
I think there are a lot of sides to this and i am going to have to do some major narrowing down to find a good research topic to write about.
During class discussion it helped bring up some issues with my topic. For instance: should a new mother be able to do whatever she wants with her body- if she is carrying a baby?
To be honest, this kind of argument is something that should be left solely to abortion- after all, millions of women abuse prescription drugs as well as illegal narcotics that may be of some detriment to the baby they are carrying. In reality- if they cared, they wouldn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or even eat the wrong food when carrying a baby.
One of the better arguments that i have been thinking about for quite some time now, which was reinforced by another of my classmates: Legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illicit drugs (illegal or not). This brings up the age old debate- should i get drunk, or should i smoke up? I think the main problem with this argument though is that it cannot include a lot of the drugs which are on the Schedule I listing. For example, the effect of LSD or any man made drugs (cocaine, heroin, PCP, meth) is much worst than that of a simple plant that grows in the ground- cannabis.
This topic has proven to have far too many sections...
Man made drugs and their effects vs natural herbs classified as "Drugs" and their effects
Effects on the workplace - according to this 15% of Americans drink on the job, what could be next?
"Forbidden fruit effect" - because it is illegal, is it cooler to do drugs/drink under age?
Learning from the past- will people see what happened in the 50s to 80s and realize that drugs are a major cultural influence, and will continue to be one whether they are illegal or not?
If we successfully legalize drugs in the United States, how much of the prison system will be cleared out? How much of the organized crime element will be taken out?- all of it? How much surplus in tax money will we have to better fund public schools, take care of our roads and historical landmarks, or set aside for social security?
What has history traditionally showed in nation's who have legalized or are on the verge of legalizing drugs? Revolt? Rebellion?
Why should millions of Americans be allowed to be alcoholics after they are twenty-one, but are not allowed to become marijuana smokers?- an arguably less detrimental thing
In the United States, the legal drinking age is 21- yet there are 19 year old alcoholics. In Germany there is no drinking age, and there are far fewer alcoholics.
Liz Kleinfeld
I think the first step i need to take in my research is to find out what happened Holland when they legalized drugs. From what i have seen from prior research: In Amsterdam there are places where heroin addicts have "safe shoot up spots" where they can buy a syringe and use a drug they have become addicted to- in order to be productive in their daily lives. I think that is one of the stone cold facts is that when a person becomes so dependent and addicted to something- without it they cannot function, at all.
One thing that has kind of deterred me from focusing on one specific drug, is that- in most cases- it is contradictory to legalize one, but not the other. I think that marijuana is the exception to the rule- it should have never been made illegal and primarily was due to its popular use during the 60s by hippie war protesters. (a bold move by Nixon to rid the white house front lawn of "non-patriotic Americans")
So for all intents and purposes i could write a paper about how alcohol and marijuana are almost sister drugs- and the only reason why marijuana did not remain legal is because of its nearly non-existent prevalence up until the late 50s, early 60s. How the previous of the two has been known world wide to cause hundreds of thousands if not millions of deaths each year- while the latter has not been documented to have ever caused a death (maybe i lied), and has never been scientifically proven to be a major cause of lung cancer.
down at the bottom
Now I am starting to sound like a druggie.
I think there are a lot of sides to this and i am going to have to do some major narrowing down to find a good research topic to write about.
1.29.2007
Learning
Well, i guess its been a while- I have been researching different topics from my 10 potential topics, and I narrowed it down to a few.
First i had picked teleportation, but when i actually went on a hunt for the articles and information about teleportation- it was virtually non-existent. I found a few articles but they were basically about the same research subject (the same experiment). Although Quantum Teleportation is a very fascinating subject to me, the preliminary scientific research for me to do my research on- just isn't there.
So i decided that even though i have already explored this topic, i would go ahead and take my teacher's advice and explore it some more.
Drug legalization
This topic is pretty controversial- and obviously drugs have been around since the rise of civilization (I'm pretty sure Plato and Socrates were tripping out on something...) - so of course its going to be an "Issue" these days. Of course it doesn't have to be an "Issue"- it leans toward the very simple fact that no matter what "Laws" govern, whether it be the laws of physics or the laws of a bi-party democracy gone haywire, people will always be intentionally breaking these laws because of human nature. Having a psychedelic experience with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is no different a discovery than finding out that the planets of our solar system revolve in an ellipse using math so complicated it would make most people's brains explode. I think the difference is that most people regard drug use as not being a legitimate science like chemistry or biology- but in fact, drug use has been proven in controlled environments to be a huge force for research, experimentation and inspiration.
-Wow you know i just noticed that i am starting to write my paper, so i better just cut it short there.
Drug legalization is pretty beneficial and that is what i intend to prove in my paper.. i really haven't decided whether i want to make it a persuasive paper or an informative paper, usually my style of persuasion leads to pretty good research papers (in the past it has..)..
So based on a lot of different things that i have written in the past this should be more of an exploration deep into the bowels of the cave rather than trying to find the entrance.
Also check out my del.icio.us, i have a lot of links on there that i bookmarked just while drawing up my research plan tonight.
First i had picked teleportation, but when i actually went on a hunt for the articles and information about teleportation- it was virtually non-existent. I found a few articles but they were basically about the same research subject (the same experiment). Although Quantum Teleportation is a very fascinating subject to me, the preliminary scientific research for me to do my research on- just isn't there.
So i decided that even though i have already explored this topic, i would go ahead and take my teacher's advice and explore it some more.
Drug legalization
This topic is pretty controversial- and obviously drugs have been around since the rise of civilization (I'm pretty sure Plato and Socrates were tripping out on something...) - so of course its going to be an "Issue" these days. Of course it doesn't have to be an "Issue"- it leans toward the very simple fact that no matter what "Laws" govern, whether it be the laws of physics or the laws of a bi-party democracy gone haywire, people will always be intentionally breaking these laws because of human nature. Having a psychedelic experience with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide is no different a discovery than finding out that the planets of our solar system revolve in an ellipse using math so complicated it would make most people's brains explode. I think the difference is that most people regard drug use as not being a legitimate science like chemistry or biology- but in fact, drug use has been proven in controlled environments to be a huge force for research, experimentation and inspiration.
-Wow you know i just noticed that i am starting to write my paper, so i better just cut it short there.
Drug legalization is pretty beneficial and that is what i intend to prove in my paper.. i really haven't decided whether i want to make it a persuasive paper or an informative paper, usually my style of persuasion leads to pretty good research papers (in the past it has..)..
So based on a lot of different things that i have written in the past this should be more of an exploration deep into the bowels of the cave rather than trying to find the entrance.
Also check out my del.icio.us, i have a lot of links on there that i bookmarked just while drawing up my research plan tonight.
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