Examine the mutual benefit to the marijuana plant and humans of the development of consciousness-altering chemicals in the plant. So, your thesis will probably be a statement to the effect that these chemicals offer an evolutionary value to both the plant and humans. For plants, it’s obvious: because it satisfies our desire to alter our subjective reality, we ensure its survival and actually improve its living conditions. For humans, the benefit is more complicated. You will want to offer some ideas about WHY humans want/seek/desire to alter their consciousness. This last part is what you will elaborate on or talk about in the third section of your essay. Pollan offers some ideas about this, but you may have some of your own. But remember, this is not a personal reflection on whether smoking “weed” is good or bad. It’s about the general human desire to change their subjective reality through ingesting consciousness-altering chemicals.

Alright, so for the next phase (writing the body paragraphs), you will write out in full each body paragraph. In the first body paragraph, you should be discussing the War on Drugs and whether or not it was effective. The second main body paragraph should tell the story of the discoveries of marijuana’s molecular structure (who and when with dates) and how those discoveries led to new insights about the human brain. And finally, in the third paragraph, you describe how humans and the plant have co-evolved in a mutually beneficial relationship. The plant is well-taken care of, and humans fulfill their desire to alter their consciousnesses. Here is where you state and elaborate on your thesis about why it is that humans desire to alter their consciousnesses.