Social fallacies

Social fallacies

Equality Illinois

Equality Illinois is a not for profit civil rights organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Illinoisans. It is also an organization that has been vocal about human rights. The organizations have also expressed its public support for a bill in the state legislature that would decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of CannabisCannabis by anyone that is 21 years or older. It is an organization that doesn’t seem to support or promote fundamentalist Christian morals.

Relevancy marijuana

Only a few numbers of citizens in the United States agree that marijuana is a serious issue facing the country today. Studies indicate that a third of the population considers marijuana as an essential issue among them. Even though half of the people assert the subject of marijuana as something significant, the same people were against the legalization of marijuana. The weight of the issue has become more important than those that are for the legalization of marijuana (citation needed).

Besides, decriminalizing and regulating marijuana could bring in upwards of about a half-billion dollars in a year into the government coffers. Such revenue is considered could help strengthen our social safety net. Also, the organization believes that the state will be better off when we stop unjustly enforcing laws that criminalize the recreational use of cannabis and start by regulating and collecting revenue from it instead. It is therefore hoped that by decriminalizing CannabisCannabis, other states may consider adopting this and doing so as well.

Currently, the state of Illinois is experiencing a massive structural budget deficit. Having such a gap threatens the ability to fund social services, which is needed most in the community. It is, therefore, envisaged that such assistance would increase if the bill on the legalization of marijuana is passed. It could also bolster the state’s schools that provide more housing for those who need it.

Argument for marijuana

Equality Illinois makes an argument that marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes. When cannabis is used for medicinal purposes, there is a little percentage of the risk of severe complications. It, therefore, does not affect a person’s wellbeing and future. Furthermore, as an LGTBQ civil rights organization, they argue that it is essential to meet the needs of the community when faced with injustice. Therefore in weighing on the issues in which a community faces disproportionate harm, it has forced the organization to push for full equality for the members of their community in which they meet multiple and historical marginalized identities. It is for this reason that Illinois believes that it is essential to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of cannabis.

As an LGBTQ civil rights group, the organization decided to support the legalization and regulation of marijuana for recreational purposes because it observed that the LGBTQ people use CannabisCannabis at more than double rates compared to the non-LGBTQ people. As such the organization believes that the criminalization of cannabis use therefore disproportionately harms the LGBTQ community. Hence the call for legalizing CannabisCannabis for recreational use by anyone over the age of 21. Its legalizations will enable the country to get a revenue stream of about $ 7 billion. This has the potential to reduce the number of LGBTQ people that are caught by the criminal justice system of Illinois.

Moreover, the organization believes that the communities of color, especially the LGBTQ communities of color, have for a long time been disproportionately caused harm to the criminalization of the cannabis drug. In a 2013 report that was issued by the ACLU, it was highlighted that despite the roughly equal rates of cannabis usage by the white and African-American community in the United States, African Americans were more likely to be arrested for possessing CannabisCannabis than the white Americans. In that regard, the current bills place justice for communities of color who are at the center of this issue. As such, the organization is seeking an equitable solution to the disproportionate historical impact of criminalization in communities of color by the war on drugs.

Informal fallacies made by the advocate

The fallacies here are

• legalizations of marijuana could strengthen the social safety net,
• it is only the communities of color who are at the center of this issue,
• criminalization in communities of color under the war on drugs,
• the LGBTQ people use CannabisCannabis at more than double rates compared to the non-LGBTQ people,
• it will bolster the state’s schools that provide more housing for those who need it.

An informal fallacy made by this organization regarding the decriminalization of marijuana is that allowing for the legalization and regulation of marijuana could help strengthen the social safety net. It raises the question of why would such a group think that the legalization of marijuana could help protect the most vulnerable among us in society. Why would we support the decriminalization and regulation of that activity?

References

Johnson, B. C. (2019). Why Illinois’s LGBTQ Organization Is Fighting to Decriminalize Pot (2019). Available at: https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/5/30/why-illinoiss-lgbtq-organization-fighting-decriminalize-pot (Accessed: 5 April 2020).

Copi, I. M., Cohen, C., & McMahon, K. (2016). Introduction to logic. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN-13: 9780205820375

Jackson II, R. L., & Hogg, M. A. (Eds.). (2010). Encyclopedia of identity (Vol. 1). Sage.