After analyzing our cartoons, our group found that the majority of cartoons held a negative tone towards not legalizing marijuana. Whether it was in argument for State’s Right’s of for the sick/elderly, these cartoons (the cartoons in favor of legalizing marijuana) had a universal theme to make marijuana a normality and even a commodity in our society.
Those cartoons in support of keeping marijuana illegal, drew the argument that trying to regulate marijuana for tax purposes would be impossible considering the high amount of current marijuana users not using it for medical purposes.
This identification of druggies vs. taxpayers was a common theme found in our cartoons.
An interesting discovery was that the smaller newspapers had cartoons mostly favoring a conservative view of not legalizing marijuana whereas the larger, more well known newspapers—like the Gazette and the New York Times—more often have cartoons that favor legalizing marijuana.
Framing theory was applied to most of our cartoons because they would either focus on the marijuana users who are critically ill-- most of whom are elderly—or would focus on the negative affects of marijuana on the brain and on society; meaning unregulated and easy to get a hold of.
The only media effects theories we could find that were applicable to our topic were framing and cultivation. We believe this is because each side had a specific point to cover and emphasize, so other theories and concepts couldn’t come into play as much.
