TOW 14

The article Marijuana Overdoses Kill 37 in Colorado On First Day of Legislation is written as satire by the website The Daily Current.  Although not mentioned in the article, the website says that all of its articles are fictional, and hints at it with its many jokes.  This article was written as a way of highlighting the safety of marijuana.  Even though 37 deaths du to alcohol poisoning may go un noticed, the same with marijuana would be a big deal.  A couple of hints are thrown in that a layman could realize.  There are two references to fictional characters as Dr. Jack Sheppard, a character from Lost, was quoted, and the story a Jesse Pinkman, a character from Breaking Bad, was told.  Other jokes, like citing the Rocky Mountain News, a paper that has gone out of business, require more regional knowledge, and others are even tougher to notice unless you have a medical background.  The authors seized the opportunity of the start to legal marijuana sale as a chance to make a joke about the matter.  It was also an opportunity to share their pro-marijuana views via their satirical jokes.  The one issue with this article is their jokes.  Although this is the method to get their idea across they almost fail.  This article has come up often because many people believe it.  Even though they try to sprits in some blatant jokes they are not completely obvious and if a reader did believe it was possible to overdose on marijuana then they would believe the article as truth.  Although the website states that it is fictional this would only be found if you were actually looking in depth on their website, and as many of their readers come from social media, many people do not realize this.  This means that they failed in the whole goal of the article showing the failures in their rhetoric.