Legalization of Drugs

. . ' I must stress the term 'drug war'. With the violence that goes on between gangs and officers who are in this war, it is all for the cause of safety of others, including the users themselves ' War on Drugs is a term commonly applied to a campaign of prohibition, military aid and military intervention, with the stated aim being to define and reduce the illegal drug trade-Wikipedia ' it is all for the cause of safety of others, including the users themselves. Of course people do it for the thrill because they know it is illegal and that they are breaking the law, which is never okay because we have 'the law' for a reason. ' Actually there is a variety of Political and Economic reasons why drugs are illegal for example i would expect the Wood industry would be very much against the legalization of cannabis because of hemp production that this would lead to reducing the Wood Companies profit . . . 'because they know it is illegal and that they are breaking the law, which is never okay because we have 'the law' for a reason.' We have many stupid laws in fact many countries have stupid laws homosexuality for example is banned in a number of countries in Africa does that make homosexuals bad for breaking the law? what about slave traders ? slave trade used to be legal so because it wasn't illegal they shouldn't be considered bad/evil or criminals? Not everything the government says is a valid argument. . . 'As much as regulation would call for a safer place to purchase them, the problem about government interference is because, the tobacco industry for example, it would be *likely* that the government, in retail sales, would put unnecessary chemicals like they do in cigarettes, making addiction more probable' I only said the drugs could be sold by the government because it is an option not because i necceserily support that , I am a Libertarian and i generally belive businesses should be left on their own and i support private certifiers not government regulations i fully understand your concern but i personally belive in limited government involvement. . . . ' It would be nice to put these drug runners out of business, but unfortunately they are most likely going to try to create and grow some new form of drug that will cause more serious issues and side effects. ' The most harmful drugs like the Greek 'Sisa' i don't belive are likely to spread further than localy but even so how would prohibiting drugs stop them from doing so? If anything than legalizing drugs would make these new inventions safer . . . ' drugs have actually messed people and their families up because of the repercussions of usage. Heck, those who use drugs such as meth and cocaine actually deal with side effects that are mentally, physically, and emotionally harmful.' Yes drugs CAN be harmful and so are many other things stopping people from hurting themselves is the same as banning suicide or cutting yourself Those people who use these drugs made the decision to do so we are not responsible for them and even so not every addict is what the sterotypical picture is like it is actually very hard to spot an addict in a crowd. . 'Umm....heroin is absolutely harmful for your body. (http://www.drugabuse.gov......). It is definitely true that drug dealers are able to lace their product, but that is really the risk that the users take from it, and that is not the government's responsibility' Just how it is not the government's resposibility to arrest someone for putting a needle in their arm and your link mostly talked about the effects of being addicted to it. ' Well, depending on the dealer, prices can vary. Also, what statistics or studies show that prices would go down?' 'Let's talk about production costs first. With large-scale production, the price to produce a pound of marijuana could drop as low as 20 cents per pound, based on figures from Canada's industrial hemp farms, ' http://money.howstuffworks.com... i expect other drugs to follow a similar pattern and most experts agree . 'Having illegal drugs on you is a crime, If you commit a crime and are caught, you will go to jail. It is not the responsibility of the government to defend you if you broke the law, because laws are there for a reason. We do not have constitutional rights to possess illegal drugs.' Yes Laws exist ? does that mean we cannot change them? we do not have a constitutional right to possess Marijuana but you are still in favour of legalizing it just like i am in favour of legalizing all the others like i said before people make bad laws and i don't neccesary see someone who brakes the law as bad. 'With lack of drug prohibition, there will likely be more deaths from drug use, so arrest keeps people from dying from drug abuse and overdose. Would you like to see more deaths or arrests? ' Like i said before the number of overdoses would go down because the market would be regulated people overdose because they buy from a black market in which dealers decide how many % of the stuff they are selling is pure. and why would there be more arrests ? why would there be more deaths from drug abuse if drugs were legal? I forteified the round because i was busy and my opponent seems really abusive about it for some reason 'I would also like to point out that they have created another debate thread on the same topic with the same opening argument here: http://www.debate.org......' um So?