AAN: Marijuana should be legalized recreationally.

I am not really supposed to reply to Pro’s rebuttals this round but I would like to begin by saying I don’t think Pro understood my argument. The reason I went to great depth to explain the legal history of drug control is because marijuana (recreational or medical) is a drug and as all, drugs need to be proven “safe and effective” before it can be sold in any form to the public. My rationalized argument is at the end. The whole first half are facts to establish my argument. Moving on I would like to point out the flaws in Pro’s sources and argument. C1) Marijuana's impact on users and those around them: Source 1 and 2 – Marijuana and psychotic symptoms: The trial groups were: “Men and women age 18–50 years who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizophreniform psychosis according to the DSM-IV criteria were eligible for the study.” [1] The second source is titled “Medical Marijuana for Psychiatric Disorders” also focuses on those with psychiatric disorders. So medical marijuana helps those with schizophrenia and other disorders…. Our conversation is on recreational marijuana, as you pointed out. Source 3 - Marijuana and mental degradation: I would like to point out that the source is over 10 years old and references 15 studies not linked to the article. Studies more recently have shown differences in brain development though it has not impact on the performance of the brain has not been proven. Referring to my source, linked as [9], the brain development changes were found in the reward system of the brain. I will also link my previous sources showed that rats have been shown to have increased cell loss due to the chemicals in marijuana. Marijuana effects on the brain are disputed and its positive effects are for a small part of the population with mental disorders. Source 4 – Never Linked Source 5 – Marijuana instead of tobacco: First, not proven is marijuana smoke is better than tobacco smoke. They contain similar tars and cancer causing chemicals. (Refer to my argument). Without having shown that marijuana smoke is less harmful than tobacco smoke, switching has no positive benefit. Also it is only preliminary findings with a very small sample size of 12 in each group. Even with the small sample size, it was only shown that smokers smoked less after one week when being exposed to cannabis smoke instead of a placebo. This source has very little data and a small sample size. This source is unreliable and switching smokes has not been shown to have any benefits. Source 6 – Effects on Bystanders: I find this source interesting because it does show odd benefit of marijuana legalization. However I would like to quote the source “Research on stoned driving is inconsistent, with some studies finding impairment and others not”. [5] Unnecessary arrest: This portion is irrelevant and only appeals to pathos. “Unnecessary arrests” is actually a false statement. Marijuana is illegal, and proving people are being arrested for drugs and being charged according to the possession of drugs does not support drug legalization. The laws are not “injustice” and have been approved by the legislative of the people and the Supreme Court. Money and the Economy This point (people always use it) shows a lack of understanding of the economy and the Constitution. Disposable income will be spent either through one means or another. Colorado has seen a massive increase in tourism, which helps its economy [6]. Anyways it economic growth is similar to other states like Texas, showing no performance increase due to marijuana [7] [8]. Source 9 implies that instead of sending people to jail we can tax them. Avoiding a Slippery Slope fallacy, legalizing actions so they can be taxed is morally wrong and would be unconstitutional because the legalized actions are not for the benefit of the people even if the government generates tax revenue. Safer Cannabis: Thank you for supporting my argument. As with every drug, once marijuana was possibly approved by the FDA after medical researching that showed it was “safe and effective” it would be regulated to be not contaminated. Also like every drug, marijuana needs to be shown to be “safe and effective” before being sold to the public. So it should not be sold. Conclusion: Marijuana has not been shown to be a “safe and effective” drug to be sold to the public either recreationally or medically. Any study showing its safe has another study saying it is unsafe. Until medical research proves that it has no negative effects, it should not be sold to the public. Pro’s quotes I quoted: [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... [2] http://www.psychologytoday.com... [3] http://www.webmd.com... [4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... [5] http://healthland.time.com... New quotes by me: [6] http://www.denverpost.com... [7] http://en.wikipedia.org... [8] http://en.wikipedia.org... [9] http://www.sfn.org...