Marijuana should be legalized

I welcome my opponent to Debate.org.Marijuana: the dried leaves and female flowers of the hemp plant, used in cigarette form as a narcotic or hallucinogen.http://dictionary.reference.com...For brevity, I will be referring to Marijuana throughout this debate as M. Your points A1 and A2 are identical; I will be treating them together."A1- Marijuana has many health Benefitsit has many health benefits it know that it can take away cancer cant take away pain"and"A-2 IF used correctly it can help in the treatmentIf managed correctly is can help over 14 diseases such as Cancer and Alzheimer;s, appetite loss, glaucoma, nausea, vomiting, spasticity, pain, weight loss, arthritis, dystonia, insomnia, seizures, and tourette's syndrome"My opponent claims M has health benefits. He then attempts to outline some of them: "it has many health benefits it know that it can take away cancer cant take away pain"Whether he means that he knows it can take away cancer ("take away" also termed "cure," in less educated circles than my worthy opponent) but cannot reduce pain, is an open question; the English language apparently is too restrictive for the concepts my opponent is trying to convey. I am frankly in the dark as to his actual intent here; hopefully he can enlighten us next round.He then lists off fourteen conditions for which he believes M to be an effective treatment. He calls these diseases, although there are only two actual diseases on his list; the rest are symptoms of many disorders. He gives no source for his claims, no reasoning; it is his unornamented opinion, and will be treated as such for this... *ahem* debate.I hope that my opponent will favor us with a few actual arguments to back up his position in his next round; a reliable source or two to establish these claims wouldn't hurt his case, either.M by itself is rather suspect as a treatment. M poses very serious long and short term health risks to the user, as documented here: http://drugabuse.gov... Short term effects of M use include: "distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking and problemsolving, and problems with learning and memory." Long term effects include "anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia." The site goes on to note: "marijuana smoke contains 50-70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke,"and "marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug."Depression, schizophrenia, lung and mouth cancer, heart disease; these seem like potent health reasons to avoid M, not to use it. Note that M has been noted to cause some of the same ailments my opponent claimed it would cure - I mean, "take away." Although certain compounds isolated in M can potentially have medical applications, such as dronabinol and nabilone, that is a completely different subject from legalizing M. M is primary used for recreational purposes; people usually smoke it to get high, not get better. If my opponent wanted to argue the medical side of this, he should have called for the legal use in drug form of certain chemical compounds found in M leaves; as it is, the recreation use of this drug is illegal, and it is up to my opponent to show why it should not be. Medical uses are not cogent to your case. A-3 "Alcohol used to be Illegal and they voted and it is now legal why not legalize marijuana and alcohol has a more dealth tole then Marijuana there were 22,072 related deaths in 2006 for alcohol related. 13,050 more deaths came from alcoholic liver disease. To this day there has not been any recorded credible deaths caused by the effects of marijuana"M is illegal for the same reason prostitution and littering and graffiti are illegal; it promotes crime, presents a public health risk, and is a public nuisance. 1. M promotes crime by being a gateway drug; the smaller, less-addictive highs from M lead many users to experiment with stronger drugs which are MUCH more addictive, and which must be obtained at high prices from the black market. Petty crime to pay for the addictive substances and felonies committed by dealers and their organizations over the supply of the same are fueled by these new addicts. 2. M is a public health risk, not just in the second-hand carcinogen laden smoke, but in the users who venture into our streets and workplaces under the effects of this drug. M causes "distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking and problemsolving, and problems with learning and memory," all of which puts other people at risk when MJ users drive or operate machinery. It is similar to the distorting and dulling effects of alcohol, except there are cases of the dulling effects of M lasting for days or weeks after the exposure. When driving, those who are under the influence of M are as much a risk as those who drink, and the effects last longer. 3. M is a public nuisance. Any society depends on having sane, awake people taking care of their everyday business; any substance that creates a class of stoned, brain-dead zombies is harmful to the success and possibly the survival of that society. Hippies are termed the dregs of society for a reason; they contribute nothing of value, and function as sand in the gears of civilization. Tobacco, as harmful to one's health as it is, at least does not prevent one from thinking; alcohol's effects wear off with the hangover. M's effects can impair one's "physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, social life, and career status. Several studies associate workers' marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers' compensation claims, and job turnover."Hard liquor and tobacco should probably be made illegal for their health risks, but that fact that they aren't illegal is no argument in favor of legalizing M. Just because unions are allowed to make enormous "campaign contributions" to candidates so that they will champion their causes does not mean that simple bribery should be permitted. If anything, the fact that the one harmful practice is permitted while another is banned means that we aren't done banning harmful things.I've put enough time into this round. I turn this over to my opponent, looking forward to his reply.-C.