Part 2: Analysis
a. Defense of arguments
n In my speech based on my topic, it was said that weed is not bad and it’s not a drug! But many people thinks that weed is a very dangerous and health risking thing. But from my point of view, I think it’s not a bad thing at all, depending on what kind of activity it is used for. For instance, if people smokes weed a lot or it is called overdose, it is of course bad. And that’s the reason why weed is portrayed as a bad thing to take. Also, many people keep on thinking that weed is a drug, but actually weed is a herb. Most of the traditional medications around the world uses weed as medicines. The definition of drug is, it is a chemical substance that affects the processes of the mind or body. As for herb, it is a plant or plant derivative or extract prescribed for health or healing or even any types of plant that is used for culinary or medicinal purposes. The difference between drug and herb is that drug is a man-made; from combining chemicals that has effects on your body. As for herb, it is a natural grown plant which has effects on your body. What I’m trying to say is that weed is definitely not a drug yet it is a herb which helps cure several sickness or health problems, depending on the dosage of course. Also, it helps people to fantasize a lot, giving them many ideas in any way and also it makes them happy. All the facts taken were based on medical studies from All facts are based on medical studies from The Scripps Research Institute (California), Harvard University (Massachusetts), California Pacific Medical Center, Columbia University, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, University of Madrid (Brazil), Laboratory for Physiopathology of Diseases of the Central Nervous System (France)University of California in Los Angeles
b. Research
The research that was done by me for my speech was taken from the internet. There were quite a lot of information about my topic, which is ‘weed is not bad and it’s not a drug!’, but I only took the necessary, persuasive and relevant information from the internet. Also, the irrelevant and less suitable information from the internet was not taken for my speech.
c. Evidence
Based on the evidence that I have found from the internet, it is the annual causes of death in the United States. With this evidence, it is proven that the leading causes of death in the year 2000 were the cause of tobacco, with 435,000 people died, which is 18.1% of the total of US deaths. Second was the cause of poor diet and physical inactivity, with 400,000 deaths which is 16.6%. Next was the cause of alcohol consumption, with 85,000 deaths rated 3.5%. As for the other causes were microbial agents with 75,000 deaths followed by toxic agents with 55,000 deaths, motor vehicle crashes with 43,000 deaths, incidents involving firearms such as gunshots with 29,000 deaths, sexual behaviors with 20,000 deaths and illicit use of drugs with 17,000 deaths. As we can see that there were no deaths caused by taking weed at all. Meaning, there is no harm at all consuming weed but of course with the suitable dosage.
d. Survey results
There were 10 survey questions about ‘weed is not bad and it’s not a drug’ was distributed to 10 students from Inti College Subang Jaya and Taylor’s University College, Lakeside Campus. The gender distributed was 5 females and 5 males, in order to see the perceptions of each gender towards my topic equally. The survey that was distributed consists of 6 questions, 1 short answer and the other 5 questions given were short or long answers. Over all the 10 surveys distributed, all 10 were answered properly but only 1 survey question that was answered was too short.
Based on question 1, 6 of them actually said weed is a drug and the other 4 said no. As for question 2, 3 of participants actually admitted that they have smoked weed before and the other 7 said no. For question 3, some actually answered that in movies they portray weed as a cool thing to do, some said it is a bad influence especially to the younger people, overrated the weed it is just stronger than normal cigarettes, 1 said it is okay for movies to portray weed just make sure it is about the negative side of it and some said depending on the movies, as some portray it as bad some portray it as good.
Question 4, 6 of the participants answered that weed is bad, 2 answered it is good and the other 2 answered no good or bad about weed. As for question number 5, different answers were given such as media should portray weed as bad and shouldn’t take them, don’t know, it’s bad because it makes people high, media should portray them as good as an education for students, should portray weed like other drug advertisements so that they wouldn’t take it, the effects and negativity of smoking weed, in a negative light, weed is as strong as cigarette, no comment and not so good, not so bad.
As for the last question, the question was whether should weed be legalized or not, 7 participants answered no and 3 participants answered yes. All the information above did fulfill my information needed for my speech as my topic is, ‘weed is not bad and it’s not a drug!’
Part 3: Speech Plan
a. Main points
· Weed is not a drug, it is a herb where it helps prevent certain sicknesses such as it prevents breast cancer, it kills brain cancer cells, promotes neuron growths, it prevents from lung cancer and many more.
· I take a stand to say that weed is definitely not a drug and it is not bad to consume it at all. It is because it does not kill people, yet it helps you in many ways.
b. Goals
· To persuade audiences that weed is not a drug, yet it is a herb and weed is not bad.
· To let the audiences aware that weed does not harm peoples’ health, yet it helps to prevent or cure sicknesses.
c. Major Challenges
· There was too much of irrelevant information about my topic.
· It was difficult for me to distribute the survey questions to more people due to time management.
Part 4: Documentation
a. Viewpoint of position
It is proven that the leading causes of death in the year 2000 were the cause of tobacco, with 435,000 people died, which is 18.1% of the total of US deaths. Second was the cause of poor diet and physical inactivity, with 400,000 deaths which is 16.6%. Next was the cause of alcohol consumption, with 85,000 deaths rated 3.5%. As for the other causes were microbial agents with 75,000 deaths followed by toxic agents with 55,000 deaths, motor vehicle crashes with 43,000 deaths, incidents involving firearms such as gunshots with 29,000 deaths, sexual behaviors with 20,000 deaths and illicit use of drugs with 17,000 deaths. As we can see that there were no deaths caused by taking weed at all. Meaning, there is no harm at all consuming weed but of course with the suitable dosage.
(PhD, James S. Marks)
b. Survey
- 10 survey questions distributed
Survey questions
Survey on ‘Weed is not bad and it’s not a drug!’
Jeremy Ong Sooi Liong
Presentation Skills (COM2115). The purpose of this survey is for my assignment and my topic is ‘Weed is not bad and it’s not a drug!’
Survey Questions:
Age:
Gender:
1. Do you all know what’s weed? Do you think its drug?
2. Have you ever tried smoking weed before?
3. How do you find movies portray weed?
4. Do you think weed is good or bad? Why?
5. In your opinion, how do you think media should portray weed?
6. Do you think weed should be legalized? Why?
Jeremy Ong Sooi Liong
Presentation Skills (COM2115). The purpose of this survey is for my assignment and my topic is ‘Weed is not bad and it’s not a drug!’
Sample of answered survey
Age: 20
Gender: Male
1. Do you all know what’s weed? Do you think its drug?
Yes, and it’s not a drug.
2. Have you ever tried smoking weed before?
Yes.
3. How do you find movies portray weed?
Depending on movies, some portray it as good some bad.
4. Do you think weed is good or bad? Why?
It’s good, because some people use weed as medications.
5. In your opinion, how do you think media should portray weed?
Not so bad, not so good.
6. Do you think weed should be legalized? Why?
Yes, because certain medicine weed is used with the right dosage.
