Medical as well as recreational marijuana should be legal in all US states

I thank 'Dpowell' to have accepted this debate. It is true that marijuana can be very addictive to some people. Many other substances both legal and illegal can be very addictive as well. My opponent bases his arguments upon the work of Dr. Drew and he himself says that "It is extremely addictive for some people. I think that's where people get confused. It's not very addictive for many people. It's a small subset of people with a genetic potential for addiction." It's like saying because some people are allergic to garlic then we should ban it everywhere. It simply does not make sense. Obviously the "small subset of people" have the right to get help but the many people that don"t get addicted should not be punished with restrictions on their personal freedom and right to make their own decisions concerning their health because of a minority"s unfortunate genetic situation. In a large-scale survey where the participants were asked about their use of drugs they found out that of those who had tried marijuana at least once about 9 percent eventually fit a diagnosis of cannabis dependence. The numbers for alcohol was 15%, cocaine 17%, heroin 23%, nicotine 32%. http://www.scientificamerican.com... The argument stating that the more marijuana an individual consumes, the greater amount this individual will need in order to achieve the "high" feeling, is also true for other substances if consumed frequently enough. Since 91 percent of people who have tried marijuana never get addicted and therefore wouldn"t consume the cannabis frequently enough I would say this fact is only true for that "small subset of people". As the aforementioned states, I am not a fan of compromising the majority"s freedom because of the minority. And nor is democracy. Referring to the sentence "According to his statistics, 4.3 million out of 7.3 million, have marijuana dependence or abuse" I must say this is directly wrong. The original source (http://edition.cnn.com...) states: "of the 7.3 million persons aged 12 or older classified with illicit drug dependence or abuse in 2012, 4.3 million persons had marijuana dependence or abuse." "Dpowell" gives the reader the impression that 4.3 million people out of 7.3 million have marijuana abuse, which gives the impression that 58.9% of the American people has a marijuana dependence. Since this is obviously not the case I would like to stress that the original numbers indicate that out of the 7.3 million persons classified with illicit drug dependence or abuse, 4.3 million had marijuana dependence or abuse. The very important word "classified" clearly states that these numbers are only valid for people who officially are abusive with drugs. I might add that luckily 58.9% of those are addicted to marijuana and not worse, hard drugs like cocaine, LSD and heroin. Dr. Drew Pinsky also points out that the more legal marijuana becomes, the more people will become addicts. In a comparison of the Netherlands, Canada and the US the numbers observed from the following link states that "the rates of cannabis use did not differ between the countries." http://www.drugwarfacts.org... I would like to point out that in the Netherlands where marijuana is legal, all production, trading and stocking of drugs, are still very much illegal. Which means that the young Dutch people get their marijuana from approved salesmen which I dare to say is way safer than the marijuana available to young Americans. I think we should see Amsterdam as an example. According to my opponent, "citizens are worried about their children" in Amsterdam. This is a very subjective statement. Some kids may have gone to school under the influence of marijuana. How many children we are talking about? I am for legalising marijuana in all states yes, but there should be restrictions in schools for kids, since it is proven that marijuana in some cases damage children"s brains. Amsterdam also banned the smoking of marijuana in schools in 2012. Let us learn from Amsterdam and legalise marijuana but ban it from kindergardens and primary schools. Just like many US states already have done with regular tobacco smoking. Looking at the statement "crime has began to center around schools, crime has increased around these shops, especially the human sex trade." I would like to point out that this information comes from a website called "rightwingnews.com". I do not believe this is a very reliable source since they do not link to the sources their statements are based on. I also believe that the crime in the US related to illicit marijuana is on a much bigger scale than that of the Netherlands. My opponent claims that marijuana is in very bad for your health and can damage your intelligence. That may be true but so can alcohol. And the important thing to remember is that it depends 100% on how much, how often and how you use marijuana. Smoking cannabis is more dangerous for your health than eating cannabis. Again considering the 91% that don"t get addicted, I believe they are out of the danger zone when it comes to permanent intelligence-damage https://www.leafly.com... Marijuana can be beneficial to people who suffer from schizophrenia. I believe that if you were to directly get this illness from cannabis consumption it would only happen for people who are abusers. It clearly doesn't happen to the majority and of course some people will experience side effects, like with any other medicin or substance. In relation to the statement about "real life pot heads" I would like to see some statistics as to how many marijuana users have "flunked out of school, lost their jobs, lost the people they love and became frustrated due to concentration difficulties". And a definiton of when exactly one can label another as a "pot head". I would like to point out that the top three causes of car accidents here in America, not Australia, is drunk driving, speeding and distracted driving. Not marijuana usage.http://www.drivers.com... As for the quality of America"s work force I don"t see any proof that the work force of a nation will decrease due to legalization. No matter what, a person has to have a job in order to make a living. I think most people are aware of that fact and if you end up not doing your work properly due to marijuana then that would be defined as an abuse, which only 9% of people who have tried marijuana end up with. Since this nation needs jobs, it is obvious that if you can"t do your job then there will be another dutiful American citizen who will be more than happy to take over. As for marijuana being damaging for the environment, I would love to see the scientific proof of animals near "pot farms" directly of cannabis farming. The agriculture uses pesticides and chemicals as well. So how come you are not dead (I assume you don"t eat 100% organic)? Since there are pesticides and chemicals in almost all the food we eat? Please back up your very radical statements like "This will cause more deaths as the chemicals will make us very sick and kill us" with scientific research and evidence. As for the conclusion: It is without sufficient scientific research that my opponent states "marijuana destroys economies" and "it has wrecked an entire country and their children". Please define how the Netherlands is a wrecked country? When the Netherlands ranks better in education than the US, when the Netherlands tops health care rankings with the US not even on the list of the top 15. http://www.telegraph.co.uk... http://www.theguardian.com... Thank you.