About the Story

---

 

Pot Politics is a multimedia look into the world of cannabis legislation. I was inspired by the current political atmosphere as state-by-state legalization laws were being passed. The seeming turn in popular opinion is fascinating , considering we’re less than 20 years from “this is your brain on drugs.”

I see this movement as one of the biggest changes to happen both socially and economically.

However, research wasn’t easy. There are a lot of unknowns in the world of marijuana. I had very little data and legitimate sources to pull from in the research stage. I found myself calling anyone I could find even remotely related to  marijuana.

Through this wide pool, I realized there were really four voices here.

The inspiration to separate the narrators is because one of the things that is so interesting about this bill is the different personal stakes. Getting a medical marijuana program implemented is everything to them but for very different reasons. 

That’s the story I wanted to tell.

This is also my senior capstone project as a journalism student at Stony Brook University. Under the direction of my professors and help of the school’s equipment, I spent four months curating this piece.

 The project requires every element of multimedia journalism: a print piece, a video piece, photography, data visualization elements and the creation and design of the website.

The Consumer