features Nick Naylor who is the main character. Additionally, he is the leader of the lobby group that supports tobacco use and it is commonly referred to as “Big Tobacco”. He is talented public speaker because of his charisma hence he is a successful lobbyist (Reitman, 2005). The lobby group is working as a research firm known as the ‘Academy of Tobacco Studies’ whose principal aim is to discredit the health risks associated to the use of tobacco. He has the capacity to apply the “research” to debunk the tobacco campaign and opposes any individual who is anti-tobacco. He also works with other lobbyists such as Bobby Jay Bliss and Polly Bailey who represent firearms and alcohol respectively (Reitman, 2005). They are dubbed the Merchants of Death (MOD) and they usually develop mutual strategies and to oppose arguments that their respective industries have killed many people. The emerging challenge facing Nick Naylor is that the rate of smoking in the country is declining especially among the youth. Therefore, he launches a campaign to re-romanticize smoking through the media especially in movies. Secondly, the senator of Vermont Ortolan Finistirre is also becoming a stumbling block to him because he is drafting a law that seek to compel companies to publish tobacco products as poison and include the symbol of crossbones-and-skull (Reitman, 2005). Nick defends smoking as “cool” while sitting near a teenager in his end of life due to cancer – the consequence of smoking. On the other hand, Nick is striving to be a superb role model to his son Joey and does not want him to know what he does for a living. Therefore, he teaches him the values of “argument” as a career (Reitman, 2005).
Similarly, Seth is intending to represent Buuds4U which is a fully licensed, legal, tax-paying marijuana retail outlet. The product is promising to become a real money-making venture of the agency because it is only legal in Colorado, but Buuds4U is kicking butt in the marketplace and has high hopes of going national as soon as more states legalize sales to adults (not just prescription-based medicinal distribution). On the contrary, Frederica opposes the idea of Seth because she is still concerned about public health and possible threats posed by legalized recreational marijuana.
The Informal Settlement Conference (ISC) is aimed to assist in complaint resolution without the necessity for an official trial at the State Office of Administrative Hearing (SOAH). An ISC practitioner represents clients whose legal services or products may be considered dangerous or unhealthy (Barry " Glantz, 2016). However, in the case involving sell of marijuana, it should not defend the client since smoking marijuana may not be beneficial to the society (Gettman, 2007). In addition, the sale of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes should not be supported by the ISC because of the cost associated with the drug among the public. Colorado recently legalized the drug for medical purposes but statistics have indicated that the marijuana is the main source of substance dependence only after alcohol (Wang et al., 2017). In this respect, about 4 million persons out of 7 million individuals are categorized as dependence of the drug. It implies that about 66 percent of Americans grappling with substance abuse are experiencing marijuana dependence. Therefore, if the ISC would defend clients involved in the sales of legalized but harmful substances, it would encourage more marijuana dependence (Gettman, 2007).
Studies have indicated that approximately 15 million persons are currently using marijuana as compared to 70.9 million who are using tobacco (Barry " Glantz, 2016). If the ISC would defend clients who are involved in the sale of the drug, the use would increase rapidly and the number of users will reach upsetting levels which would contribute to significant addiction (Gettman, 2007). Although legalized marijuana is both regulated and taxed, the benefits accrued from taxes are surpassed by the negative effects of the drug. In the movie Thank you for Smoking, Nick is obsessed with money and his profession, but does not considered the negative effects of smoking to the public (Shi, 2017). It is satirical that he encourages more youth to smoke but does not want his son to be part of them. Instead he wants to be the role model of his son hence does not want his behaviors to be exposed to him (Gettman, 2007).
The costs related to marijuana would also be higher than tax revenue collected by the government. For instance cost related to the use of alcohol in the US are about $185 billion but both states and federal governments collect tax revenue less than $14.5 (Barry " Glantz, 2016). Besides, the costs of tobacco use are $200 billion but only revenue of $25 billion is gathered from taxes. Therefore, it demonstrate that the legal tobacco costs approximately eight times the collected revenue while costs related to legal alcohol are approximately twelve times the collected revenue (Gettman, 2007). For this reason, an ISC practitioner should not represent clients who sale of legal marijuana because it would increase the marijuana-related costs. In the movie the MOD squad campaign for products which cause death of significant number of people. The movie illustrates how cigarettes smoking cause the highest number of mortality as compared to firearms and alcohol with approximately 12,000 people losing their lives per day (Shi, 2017). The tobacco smoking is largely defended in the movie using humorous impacts. Nonetheless, a character loses his life due to smoking while another is so close to die (Wang et al., 2017). Another almost perishes due to the nicotine spot attack but he only survived due to tolerance acquired in the lifespan of smoking.
An ISC practitioner such as Seth should not represent client whose legal products may be considered unhealthy or dangerous. Buuds4U is involved in production of a marihuana product which may be a source of many problems in the societies including car crushes (Shi, 2017). Studies have highlighted that the use of marijuana is associated to a significant increase in risk of death among motorists. It has contributed to rise of crashes in highway by 6 percent particularly in four states that have legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes (Wang et al., 2017). Marijuana is composed of dangerous ingredient which may exacerbate the problem.
In conclusion, the move Thank you for Smoking presents a satirical narrative presented by Nick who lobbies for tobacco use. He is insensitive of the problems caused by smoking. It is evident that many characters in the movie are perishing because of tobacco abuse. Similarly, Seth is encouraged to represent a business (Buuds4U) which produces products made of marijuana. Colorado has permitted the usage of marijuana for medicinal purposes but Frederica is not convinced of the benefits of the drug. For this reason, an ISC practitioner should not represent clients whose legal products or services may be considered dangerous or unhealthy. In this regard, marijuana can cause high drug-related costs in the country because of the risks it poses.
References
Barry, R. A., " Glantz, S. (2016). A public health framework for legalized retail marijuana based on the US experience: Avoiding a new tobacco industry. PLoS medicine, 13(9), e1002131.
Gettman, J. (2007). Lost taxes and other costs of marijuana laws. Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, 4, 25.
Reitman, J. (2005). Thank You For Smoking.avi. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nUf1Ii4JRzxIvbPELnRMFGelYwWWzY77/view
Shi, Y. (2017). Medical marijuana policies and hospitalizations related to marijuana and opioid pain reliever. Drug and alcohol dependence, 173, 144-150.
Wang, G. S., Hall, K., Vigil, D., Banerji, S., Monte, A., " VanDyke, M. (2017). Marijuana and acute hesssalth care contacts in Colorado. Preventive medicine, 104, 24-30.
