Marijuana Legalization

My opponent has not yet provided any supporting evidence for the argument that there is literally nothing to gain from legalization besides more crime, so I will begin with my arguments and return to address some of those points. In my opinion, marijuana prohibition is an example of a double standard in United States law, and demonstrates the government's blatant disregard for the personal liberties of American citizens. It is a pretty well known fact that both cigarettes and alcohol are extremely harmful substances; cigarettes kill an average of 443,000 people a year (1). There are no medical or other personal benefits to cigarette smoking whatsoever, at least not any that I would find. Cigarettes are highly addictive and can be expensive. However, they legal, taxed, and regulated in the United States. Alcohol is poisonous, sometimes fatally, and can also be addictive. Drunk driving was responsible for approximately one third of traffic related fatalities in 2010 (2). However, alcohol is not only legal, but almost embraced in our current culture. Marijuana is a naturally occurring plant that has been utilized for centuries, is not physically addictive (although some people may experience psychological addiction, which can also be said of many other things), and has directly resulted in exactly zero known deaths (3). Yet, marijuana is illegal. If that is not a double standard, I'm not sure what is, especially since the basic recreational purpose for both alcohol and marijuana are both basically the same; to get “a buzz. ” I also do not think our government has a right to dictate the personal habits of the American people, especially when it comes to something that does not negatively harm others and is a naturally grown plant. This would be akin to the government outlawing corn; the government may feel justified to do so because corn is used to make high fructose corn syrup, which contributes to obesity. Obesity causes approximately 300,000 deaths a year (4). So while outlawing corn (or any other plant) may have some benefit to some people, does that make it right? Should you not be able to eat popcorn at the movies because some other guy ate too many Twinkies and got diabetes? I believe marijuana prohibition is a clear overreach of the government’s intended authority, especially since it was originally instituted based off of propaganda and lies (5). To address my opponents points, please provide evidence or sources for your claims that marijuana is addictive and leads to crime, because I believe these statements are inaccurate. The high marijuana crime rate is directly related to the prohibition itself; almost 800,000 people would not have been arrested in 2011 (7) for possession of marijuana if it was not illegal. There is no evidence to suggest that marijuana usage leads to any crime, violent or otherwise. Any gang or drug cartel related violence is again directly related to the prohibition. When you outlaw something that is easily produced (like grown) and in high demand, a black market is created; alcohol prohibition is another examples of this, and we all know what happened with that. Black markets result in the products being sold and regulated by criminals who many not always play by the rules or have their customers best interests in mind. A black market is highly competitive due to it being so lucrative, and competition is dealt with numerous ways, many times violent. If anything, there most likely would be a reduction in violent crime and youth usage with legalization and the elimination of the black market. Drug dealers do not ask for ID when they sell a bag of pot; most could care less how old the buyer is. However, a regulated marijuana dispensary would only sell to adults over 18, or risk losing their business. If marijuana is harder for a child to obtain, what is the basis of your argument that legalization would increase youth drug use? Also, please provide reliable evidence demonstrating a correlation between marijuana usage and youth test scores. Regarding other medications that are available, FDA approval does not mean they are completely safe or without side effects. Tens of thousands of deaths a year occur as a result of misuse of prescription medication by patients and medical professionals (3). There are also some potentially very uncomfortable side effects to many of these prescription medications. Some of the side effects for common anti-nausea medications are muscle cramps, dizziness, headache, fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, and sleepiness (6. ) It should be up to the patient and doctor to select the best course of treatment with the least side effects, without intervention from the government. In summary, I believe marijuana prohibition still exists today largely due to the political reasons, not for the health and safety of Americans. Large pharmaceutical companies and other manufactures could potentially loses millions, possibly billions, if a cheap plant anyone could grow replaced some of our everyday products and medications. Prohibition does more harm than good given our current economy and state of health in the United States today. . http://www.cdc.gov... . http://www.cdc.gov... . http://www.drugwarfacts.org... . http://www.wvdhhr.org... . http://norml.org... . http://consumerhealthchoices.org... . http://www.huffingtonpost.com...