Legality of Marijuana in the US

I graciously welcome my opponent to the fourth round and thank him for replying to my talking points. Let's start: "Adam, I would argue that a individuals personal experience, when genuine and compelling are far better then any debater quoting yet another source like Wikipedia, or any other source. Obviously, a good debate can involve both, but do not discount personal experiences in debates, otherwise debates simply become exercises in "my source is better then your source". I respectfully disagree, an argument from personal expereince is a great bonus to add, but letting it occupy virtually a whole round is wasteful and detrimental to your argument. I would have let you done this, but I felt it was important to point out to less informed voters who may not have known that an argument from personal expereince, while moving and adds humanity to the argument, really isn't a solid, well-backed up talking point. I am not discrediting your experiences, but isn't it just as valid, going off of your logic, if I used the fact that my father was a veteran to validate my distaste for the military? (This is not true, just an example) 1. Cannabis/Marijuana is bad for diplomacy: Refuting your reply: So it doesn't look like I am using filler space to make my argument look longer, I will only quote you when needed, now is not one of those times. My reference to narcotics was brief, so I cede the validity of it and issue you an apology. At any rate, you did not directly reply to my talking point. I am assuming that you want tighter enforcement in general so that we don't allow these illegal exportation's to slip through. There is one problem with this though, this costs tax payer money, and increases the scope of the government. This is detrimental to your argument, since you seem to be and PM'd to me that you are arguing the legalization of marijuana from a libertarian perspective. I once again direct you to the link I posted above that states the Marijuana&Cannabis (although illegal for average citizens to grow without a permit, and illegal for anyone to export) are the 3rd most significant export in the Netherlands, where both of those drugs are legalized. Remember that the Netherlands has a relatively small population to manage, nothing compared to our population of 314,000,000. If they can't manage their borders with the small population they have, how can we manage our borders with a population over twenty times that of theirs? It will cost a lot of money that we don't have at the moment, so if you are arguing this from the libertarian perspective, as I assume you are, your own argument is detrimental to your cause. 2. Refuting your reply to China and Opium: The reason that both are nearly equally as dangerous to society is both are still very addictive, Opiates are more addictive, but letting any drug have control over you is already in itself bad. I also refute your reply to what you said about people being able to go home and smoke a joint after work with #3, my point on functioning and non-functioning drug users. 3. Refuting your reply to Functioning and Non-Functioning Drug Users: I also have no problem with medical marijuana usage, except that the prescriptions can be written by doctors who got their education from a degree mill and get their paychecks from writing prescriptions to druggies. Also, you distort my quote, the full duration of my point about Marijuana and Cannabis not being lethal is that they are more often than not gateway drugs that lead to the usage of opiates and other lethal narcotics. 4. Refuting your reply to Your rights only extend out to the point that they don't affect others: Isn't one of the main arguments behind not allowing the usage of opiates that they cause violent behavior that harms others? I also argue with this respected study that Marijuana and Cannabis both can cause violent behavior. . http://www.ukcia.org... 5. Refuting Your Arguments to The Taxation Argument: You once again indirectly reply to my argument. You take your own Utopian version of how the industry will run and try to apply it to reality. They said medical marijuana would be relatively regulated, simply refer back to my statement about that above to see what I think about that load of bull. As I said, don't you think non taxed marijuana and opiates will still sell relatively will, since people will want to buy the cheaper substance that isn't increased in price due to taxes? If marijuana is taxed as high as cigarette's and other tobacco products currently are, then un taxed marijuana should still sell pretty well, since Marijuana is a cheaper drug, but still expensive and therefore high taxes will result in either no usage of the drug or the sale of the un taxed, illegal version.