Description
Over the past couple of weeks, you took the Community Needs Assessment survey, examined the substance use/misuse data from the Spring 23 semester, and reviewed the background information of a substance that is of most concern for PCC students. Now, you will synthesize that information to draft a persuasive letter addressed to the Office of Student Life to highlight the issue in an evidence-based manner.
has a great article about how to write a persuasive letter that has suggestions for how to organize your ideas and gives you an example of how you will need to format your letter. As you are writing, be concise and try to use clear, uncluttered sentences. The specific requirements for your letter are listed below. Remember to refer to the resources provided in the Preliminary Data Analysis and CNA Research to help you construct your letter.
Key Content
State your main point in the first couple of sentences. Start with a friendly opening sentence, then get straight to the point. Explain the context of the survey and include the details listed below. Then state which substance your group found to be the most concerning and should be addressed by PCC.
Community Needs Assessment was developed in a collaborative effort with Day One, a public health non-profit based in Pasadena
Period of data collection: Spring 2023 semester
Sampling methodology and population: convenience sampling of PCC students
Sample size: 264 responses
Emphasize the importance of your request. Use published empirical evidence (i.e., national/state-level statistics) and results from the PCC CNA survey to highlight the severity of substance use/misuse. In a couple of sentences, highlight the main physiological/social impacts and implications of substance use.
Support your request in the next paragraphs. The next few paragraphs should justify your position by providing background information and details. Use statistics and facts to appeal to your reader’s reason and cite your sources.
Discuss the health risks of substance use/abuse and the risk it poses to a college-age population. Explain the physiological mechanism, appropriate for a general audience. Use published empirical evidence and weave in statistics evidence to support your argument.
Highlight potential risk factors (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, mental health, perceived risk, etc.) that are associated with substance use. Use demographic analysis of CNA data to support your argument.
Close the letter by proposing several potential interventions or ideas that PCC can explore to potentially address substance use. These should be evidence-based approaches to reduce substance at the school or community level.
Include a full reference list for all in-text citations at the end. This should be on a separate page.
Formatting
Your letter must:
Be in business format (block formatting)
Include your address (you can use PCC’s address)
Include the name and address of the recipient
Office of Student Life
Pasadena City College
1570 E Colorado Blvd, CC-105
Pasadena, CA 91106
Start with a salutation and end with a closing statement
Since there are multiple authors, you can close with “We, the undersigned:” and include the names and signatures of each group member
Use at least 5 unique statistics from the CNA Survey Results to support your argument
2 of these statistics should be from your demographic analysis
Cite a minimum of 5 credible sources
Be no longer than 2 pages + 1 separate page for citations
Submission Guidelines
This assignment will be submitted via Turnitin. You can submit it by uploading a file (pdf, doc, docx) or submitting the link to a Google Doc by clicking ‘Upload assignment’ on the dashboard below. This is a group assignment, so only one submission is required. This assignment will be graded using the rubric below.
Note: While I am not specifically grading you on your spelling or grammar, scientific communication is an important skill. Please proofread and spellcheck before submitting to ensure that your ideas come across clearly. Up to 10% may be deducted for excessive grammar and spelling errors that affect the readability of your wor
I put a document at the bottom with all the research that needs to be used for the essay
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Structure:
Paragraph 1: Intro Main Point: What’s the risk of taking marijuana
● introduce the substance we are discussing
○ Hello, Office of Student Life, we want to raise awareness of the prevalence of
marijuana usage among college students and discuss the various negative
effects on physiological functions, social behaviors, and financial decisions.
● Interesting stat to hook the reader (young age)
○ Marijuana is one of the most commonly abused drugs
○ Many students report using marijuana at a young age
■ This concerning because starting at young age students will encounter
the risk of using marijuana
■ College students are at higher risk for consuming high amounts of
marijuana (Shrivastava et al., 2011)
■ In the year of 2021, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and
Health, marijuana was one of the most used drugs in the U.S (NIH, 2019)
● 35.4% of adolescents between the ages of 18 to 25 which is about
11.8 million people used this drug in the past year (NIH, 2019)
● We believe that spreading awareness about the use of marijuana can influence the
public’s understanding of its potential risks. We hope to reach diverse communities and
individuals of all ages (especially college students), through the comprehensive of
educational initiatives
● Discuss the bulk of our essay
Paragraph 2: Physiological and social impacts (Background info on Marijuana effects on:
● Cognition
○ Studies have shown that marijuana causes cognitive decline, when the drug is
used for a long period of time (Shrivastava et al., 2011)
○ Cannabis has active compounds called cannabidiols that have 64 active
isomers.
■ Each isomer have different effects on human health and behavior
(Shrivastava et al., 2011)
■ THC, which is a active metabolite, is responsible for these effects
○ Cannabis can causes harm on prospective memory ability in young
adults/teenagers (Shrivastava et al., 2011)
■ This could cause problems in learning and a students academic
success
■ Some users may not be aware of these effects
○ Can also cause human cognition and visuomotor skills (Shrivastava et al.,
2011)
○ Marijauana can affect social behavior
■ May become violent and cause verbal aggression in social situations
■ Irritability, stress, mood swings
○
● We believe these effects should be alarming to the students and their institution
●
Overreliance/negative effects on behavior
○ Marijuana has been shown to cause bad behavior
■ Adolescents who use of Marijuana may be more likely to sell drugs, steal,
and attack someone (Moss et al., 2019)
■ Adolescent who associated with deviant peers who have access to
marijuana, have no support from their parents, and have exposure to
violence and physical abuse are more likely to use this drug (Moss et al.,
2019)
■ The use of marijuana poses a risk to a college age-population because
they are more likely to use this drug compared to the others (Swift et al.,
2008)
■ Persistent and weekly use of marijuana are signs of dependence
● We believe that the institution should be worried about their
students the constantly use marajuana
○ As it affects their ability to learn on campus and negatively
affects the overall reputation of the school
Paragraph 3: Financial impact
● how much people spend on buying the drug
● How it affects their financial decisions
● Financial literacy/responsibility
○ The use of marjiuana can lead to financial difficulties
■ Adolescent may put priority on buying this drug instead of their other
financially responsibilities
■ Adolescents may become in debt in student loans, credit card bill
because of their irresponsibility in financial decisions (Cerda et al., 2016)
■ Can also cause difficulty to pay basic expenses like rent, insurance, food
■ This should be a concern because students may drop out of school
because of not being able to afford the tuition
● It could also lead them losing their home and not having a place to
stay
Requirements needed in letter:
● State your main point in the first couple of sentences.
○ Start with a friendly opening sentence: (any ideas?) then get straight to the point.
○ The Community Needs Assessment survey was made to show the types of
substances students at PCC are using
■ As, a result the data showed the factors that were associated with
substance abuse
○ The substance we found the most concerning was marijuana
○ Community Needs Assessment was developed in a collaborative effort with Day
One, a public health non-profit based in Pasadena
○ The period of data collection was taken during the Spring 2023 semester
○ Sampling methodology and population: convenience sampling of PCC students
■ The students at PCC were the ones that took the survey
●
●
○ The sample size came out to 264 responses
Emphasize the importance of your request.
○ Use published empirical evidence (i.e., national/state-level statistics)
○ And results from the PCC CNA survey to highlight the severity of substance
use/misuse.
■ Marijuana emerges as a primary focus due to its widespread use among
the student population
■ Notably, the prevalence of marijuana on campus, with approximately 50%
of individuals encountering it (Table 4), signals a noteworthy area of
concern.
■ A striking 46% of surveyed students reported current or past marijuana
consumption (Table 37), surpassing the national average of 16.9% for
American adults (Table 1).
■ This indicates a significant proportion of the student body engaging in
marijuana use. Furthermore, the ease of access to marijuana,
acknowledged by 46% of students (Table 39), underscores the urgency
for targeted interventions.
○ In a couple of sentences, highlight the main physiological/social impacts
○ and implications of substance use.
Support your request in the next paragraphs.
○ The next few paragraphs should justify your position by providing background
information and details.
○ Use statistics and facts to appeal to your reader’s reason and cite your sources.
○ Discuss the health risks of substance use/abuse and the risk it poses to a
college-age population
○ Explain the physiological mechanism (need help with this), appropriate for a
general audience
■ Marijuana contains many cannabinoids that target the endocannabinoid
system. The two cannabinoids, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and
cannabidiol (CBD) bind to the cannabinoid receptors, primarily the CB1
and CB2 receptors. THC primarily binds to the CB1 receptors in the brain
and this activation can influence many physiological processes such as
mood, memory, pain perception, and coordination. Alongside that, the
activation of CB1 receptors can stimulate the release of
neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA),
and glutamate. The hippocampus, the region associated with memory
and learning, contains CB1 receptors which can be activated by THC and
impair a person’s memorization and learning abilities.
○ Use published empirical evidence and weave in statistics evidence to support
your argument.
○ Highlight potential risk factors (e.g., age, socioeconomic status, mental health,
perceived risk, etc.) that are associated with substance use. Use demographic
analysis of CNA data to support your argument.
●
●
Close the letter by proposing several potential interventions or ideas that PCC can
explore to potentially address substance use. These should be evidence-based
approaches to reduce substance at the school or community level.
Include a full reference list for all in-text citations at the end. This should be on a
separate page.
There seems to be an association between poor mental health and the usage of marijuana.
People who reported higher levels of mental health are less likely to try marijuana or other
THC-based products. Meanwhile, people who reported having poor mental health are more
likely to try marijuana or other THC-based products.
There is evidence that demonstrates people are more likely to use or try marijuana or
THC-based products when they have friends who tend to frequently use marijuana. People who
have tried marijuana or THC-based products report having friends who are more frequent users
with 37 percent being very frequent. On the other hand, people who have not tried marijuana or
THC-based products report having friends who are less frequent users of marijuana with 61
percent never using.
Reference List and In text citations: (Put in alphabetical order)
Shrivastava, A., Johnston, M., & Tsuang, M. (2011). Cannabis use and cognitive dysfunction.
Indian journal of psychiatry, 53(3), 187–191. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.86796
Moss, S. L., Santaella, T. J., Mauro, P. M., Keyes, K. M., & Martins, S. S. (2019). Changes over
time in marijuana use, deviant behavior and preference for risky behavior among US
adolescents from 2002 to 2014: testing the moderating effect of gender and age. Addiction,
114(4), 674–686.
https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=cmedm&AN=30461115&site=ehost-live
NIH. 2019, December 24. Cannabis (Marijuana) DrugFacts. Retrieved from
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/cannabis-marijuana
on 2023, December 6
Cerdá, M., Moffitt, T. E., Meier, M. H., Harrington, H., Houts, R., Ramrakha, S., Hogan, S.,
Poulton, R., & Caspi, A. (2016). Persistent cannabis dependence and alcohol dependence
represent risks for midlife economic and social problems: A longitudinal cohort study. Clinical
psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 4(6), 1028–1046.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5167539/
Swift W, Coffey C, Carlin JB, Degenhardt L, Patton GC. Adolescent cannabis users at 24 years:
trajectories to regular weekly use and dependence in young adulthood. Addiction.
2008;103(8):1361-1370.
https://pasadenacc-idm-oclc-org.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/logi
n.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=33158921&site=ehost-live&scope=site
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