Marijuana should be legalized in all 50 states of the United States

By destroying you. I thank my opponent for accepting this debate, and hope to have a fun debate. To begin this debate, I wish to provide what this whole debate falls under; self-responsibility or personal responsibility. The definition, which is very similar in both these terms, is defined as "The state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable forsomething within one's power, control, or management"(1). Basically, being in charge of yourself, and the usage of Marijuana falls under this category. It is the individuals decision on smoking that weed, no one else. The reason why I bring this up is because of who is using the drug in the first place. The person who decided to use the drug, simple as that. Now my opponent will probably make the argument of the damage that Marijuana can do to the body, and I will disprove that idea. Stated under "Smoking Weed Doesn't Harm Lungs If It's A Joint A Day, Even After 20 Years" (2), it states that even after smoking marijuana for one whole week, its "long-term effects" didn't really impact anyone. Its a brain enhancing drug that messes with the brain for a short period of time, similar to a temporary dose of cold medicine. You take it, you feel drowzy but does not impact you for feeling drowzy for the rest of your life; its just temporary. But to give my opponent the benefit of the doubt, there has been research about Marijuana causing harm to the body. Stated under the website "Health Line" (3), it states how Marijuana can damage the brain and lung system. Both sides present reasonable reasons, but lets think about it like this. If anyone is willing to cause potential harm to their body, why not make some money off of them? This leads to my next argument. My next argument is that with legalizing Marijuana, the economic benefits will be great. Stated under "How Legalizing Pot Could Save America's Economy" (4), it says: "Legalizing marijuana on a federal level would provide economic benefits for the United States in the billions, precisely at a time when the federal economy needs a major boost. It's not just the feds, however, who would benefit; legalization would provide top-down economic improvements in local communities, state coffers, and more. In addition to bringing in funds, it would save regional and state governments substantial sums in currently wasted law enforcement dollars". How is this bad, when it has the potential to help our economy? Why waste money on the War of Drugs, when in reality; people are always going to find a way to "sneak" Marijuana to the state or country? With Marijuana legalized, it will help our economy and I know this first hand. I live in the state of Colorado, and no I do not smoke Marijuana, and we have legalized marijuana. Because of my state doing this, we are actually gaiining a high revenue of profit from businesses; and the besty part is that the money is going towards schools and law enforcement. How is this bad, when it is actually giving our state huge benefits? For my final argument, I would like to address a statistic on current arrests happening in the United States. Stated under "Drug War Statistics" it addresses the amount of individuals who were arrested for pocessing Marijuana. The number was 1.5 million, which is high, and is 48 percent (6) of the prisoners in prison. Apparently, if you have a small dose of Marijuana that is illegal in the state; you get charged in prison for 5 years. How is this fair, when those who commited serious crimes (Murder, Rape, etc. ) are lower than Drug Violations; those with the usage of Marijuana? If we legalize marijuana, this will reduce the prison populations and accept prisoners who deserve to be in prison. Now I wait for my opponents rebuttal, although I already know how piteous it will be. Good luck! Sources: 1. . http://dictionary.reference.com...... 2. . http://www.medicaldaily.com...... 3. . http://www.healthline.com...... 4. . http://theweek.com...... 5. . http://www.drugpolicy.org...... 6. . http://thinkprogress.org......