Marijuana should be legalized

1. Marijuana is a gateway There are many studies that have proven hard drug users almost entirely start smoking cigarettes as a child before they try any sort of drug at all. Nicotine is an addictive substance that has been steadily increased over the last 6 years. There are virtually no addictive properties in marijuana and the introduction of pain medication has made marijuana an outdated drug in the view of todays youth. When Colorado recently legalized the use of marijuana the use by teens went from 24.8 to 22%. Many of todays youth turn to selling drugs and the prescription drugs have taken hold of the drug market because of the high one can experience and the price is drastically higher than any other drug. Drug dealers seek to make a profit by selling their pills and often times employee young teens to do the dirty work to lessen the chance of getting caught. http://www.nih.gov... http://www.cbsnews.com... http://www.regulatemarijuana.org... (reducing access to teens / 2. Marijuana has bad health effects It is true that marijuana can cause those short term effects but there is a major flaw in the studies stated in my opponents argument. Firstly the percent of the fatal crashes does not even exceed 5% not exactly a substantial amount by no means. Secondly those studies only show that they were users of marijuana, not that they were intoxicated at the time of the accident. Blood tests cannot determine the time of use only that it is found in the blood and since it takes marijuana on average 30 days to leave the system therefore it cannot be proven to be the cause of a crash. Alcohol however takes the lives of 16,000 in 2010 according to the center for disease control because of liver disease. 25,692 died alcohol induced deaths excluding accidents and homicides. Those are staggering numbers found by the CDC. There has been no evidence to show that marijuana has taken a single life. In fact it is used to treat over 230 illnesses and it is ready to use straight out of the ground just the way it grows. Video 3 has a list of studies done that show marijuana has properties that have the potential to actually cure certain cancers. Videos 4 and 5 show physicians supporting the use of marijuana. Cigarettes and alcohol are proven to be severely bad for you and yet they are perfectly legal. Marijuana has been shown to have healing properties and its used to treat a wide variety of illnesses. But to be fair anything taken in excess can have harmful side effects. For example if one were to drink two gallons of water in an hour they would drown and yet water is known as one of the healthiest things we can ingest. Same is true of aspirin if you were to eat a whole bottle at once you would need hospitalization. Now take the side effects of prescription drugs that are supposed to be helping you. The side effects at the end of the commercial are staggering often times causing damage in another part of the body requiring a different prescription to counter the effects of the first. Those that use medical marijuana do not have to take any prescriptions to counter their use of marijuana. Alcohol causes vomiting, headaches and blood poisoning. Marijuana is prescribed to settle the stomach, ease headaches, and does not poison your blood. Its even prescribed to treat depression without the risk of suicidal thoughts 1. http://www.cdc.gov... 2. http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com... 3. http://www.collective-evolution.com... 4. http://www.youtube.com... 5. http://youtu.be... 3. Use of Marijuana is Immoral Morality is not for a certain group to decide. The use of a substance is not immoral unless it harms someone or others. In the 60s hippies would gather together and protest wars and promote peace and love, how can that be immoral. It might be considered immoral if it were to consume ones life and drive them to commit immoral acts such as stealing or assault. Simply put [11] is a hypothetical exaggeration. When a person uses marijuana they do not become aggressive or lose the ability to tell right from wrong as one would under the influence of alcohol. Hence hippies spreading peace and love. 4. Legalization would increase the number of children having access to it No one advocating the legalization has said that a child should be allowed to use marijuana. They have asked that it carry the same set of rules as alcohol. You should not be aloud to use it in a public setting where alcohol is not legal. It is common knowledge that prohibition does not work. The government cannot prevent people from crossing our borders let alone the drugs the carry with them. When their is a prohibition put into effect it only pushes the substance to the underground market which is not the safest of conditions to be in. Prohibition empowers drug dealers to make a profit however they see fit. Take alcohol for example, when it was prohibited it gave rise to people like Al Capone who made massive profits off of it in the underground market. This lead to violence and murder but when the prohibition was lifted and the substance was regulated the crime rate dropped drastically. The same is true of marijuana, if you take the business away from the dealer you make the streets a safer place. How man dealers do you hear of selling alcohol? You don't because it is legal. Why would they sell alcohol when you can go to the closest liquor store and purchase it in a safe environment. Drug dealers don't ask to see id but a store clerk will. As a child marijuana was easy to attain simply because it was illegal but alcohol was far more difficult to get my hands on. Why? Because I couldn't find a dealer that was selling a legal substance. These are legal officials supporting legalization http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com...