Cannabis should be legalized

Rebuttals1) My opponent states that drug prohibition will barely affect or even encourage drug use. My response to this is that my opponent has shown no examples or sources of this happening. Portugal is one country and although prohibition there may have a small effect that doesn't mean it hasn't had that effect for other countries and will continue to have that effect. 2) My opponent says that Colorado has collected 2 million in cannabis taxes. First of all, these are mostly state taxes. Second, once marijuana use begins to cause more deaths, marijuana sales will decrease, making the cannabis tax decrease. Third, since marijuana is addictive, it will cause people to buy it more and more, which will basically drain their money. The tax will cause their money to decrease even more, eventually making them broke. This will increase poverty. Do we want more people broke? I don't think so.3) My opponent shows a lack of understanding of sources and quoting. If you have ever taken a Language Arts class or been on this site long, you would know that the "[1]" sign means I am quoting or paraphrasing text from a source. The "1" indicates Source #1, that I usually list below my arguments. When you say I am copy/pasting, what I am really doing is quoting from a source. If you are accusing me of plagiarism, then note the quotation marks I surround my quotes with and check my sources. Also, I will list the effects of marijuana below my rebuttals. I did not post them at first because I assumed you already had a knowledge of the effects in past debates, and that your opponents have already made them known to you.4) Pro states that "marijuana unlike alcohol causes you to drive more cautiously and slowly also how does prohibition deal with that? it's not like stoned driving would be legal if cannabis was legal." The effect of marijuana on drivers is milder than alcohol, but what reason is this to legalize it? It's still worse than normal driving. Just because it isn't as bad as alcohol doesn't mean it's good. No, stoned driving probably won't be legal but not everyone is going to follow the law. Drunk drivers get caught all the time. If we prohibit it drivers are still going to do it, just like they do with alcohol.5) After I posted evidence that marijuana can cause heart attacks my opponent said, "the person doing the weed chose to do so , it is him who is taking a risk , forcing him not to do so is forcing your own morality onto him". Yes, people have their agency but as Americans we don't want people to die. Agency can be and is abused all the time. If we don't legalize it, we are preventing many people who could've taken the risk and died to not take the risk and not die. That's like saying "We should allow people to jump off cliffs because they're taking the risk and we shouldn't force our morality onto them".6) Yes, people can be killed in car collisions who are not under the influence of drugs but we're talking about marijuana here. I have already stated several times that marijuana has a negative effect on drivers and have provided sources to back my point. By legalizing it, the death toll of drivers will increase. What's your point? I don't think we should ban public transportation. It's just that marijuana will kill more drivers. 7) I may not "definitely" know the death toll of drivers will increase but I am pretty sure of it. I can't look into the future but I can make predictions based on evidence and facts. These evidence and facts are in the sources I have provided. Case in point.8) People are affected by second hand smoke. Yes, people can choose to be in a room with a pot smoker but following legalization marijuana will become more commonly used, and harder to get away from. What if you're snowed in your own home and someone pulls out a joint? I mean, you can choose to be right next to them but it is going to be more difficult to get around places without breathing marijuana smoke.Effects of MarijuanaShort-Term Effects[1]-Rapid heart rate-Increased blood pressure-Increased rate of breathing-Red eyes-Dry mouth-Increased appetite-Slowed reaction time-Distorted sense of time-Paranoia-Magical or "random" thinking-Short-term memory loss-Anxiety and depressionLong Term Effects[2]-Liver, heart, lungs, and vasculature diseases-Physical, mental, behavioral, and social health consequencesSources1. http://www.webmd.com...2. http://en.wikipedia.org...