Resolved: Marijuana should be legalized in the United States.

Thanks Con. I will focus this round on addressing my opponent's contentions. Opponent's 1st contention: Legalizing pot makes it more available and therefore usage will increase. I actually do not deny the reality of this contention. Not only is it logical, it's the straight up truth. I live in Colorado and usage has gone up about 20% since weed has been legalized. However, there are some benefits from this. In 2014, Colorado received $573 million in tax revenues from recreational pot. That's a lot of money for a state government to take in. Now, it's being used to support education, public parks, and highway spending. It's a great way for a state government to help pay off debt and spend on various issues. An again on the point of consumption going up, like I pointed out, smoking pot is a lifestyle and is therefore an exercise of liberty. In my opinion, it's not a good lifestyle, but that does not make it my right or even my obligation to infringe upon the lifestyle of others. http://www.thecannabist.co... Opponent's 2nd contention: Marijuana is a dangerous drug. My opponent believes marijuana should be illegal and one of his main points to defend that stance is that it is a dangerous drug. There are many dangerous drugs and many dangerous items that people can and should be able to own. To understand this point, we must look at it in perspective. Marijuana has been proven to be a less risky and less dangerous drug compared to cocaine, tobacco, and even alcohol. Two of those things by the way are perfectly legal with few regulations. This is not to say that marijuana is a good substance, but it is to put this in perspective compared to what is already legal. http://www.medicaldaily.com... Oponent's 3rd contention: Marijuana is not entirely understood. My opponent claims that despite the fact that most of the time the users of marijuana find themselves in a "mellow" state, there have been instances where people have been violent. Again, perspective is what is required to understand this argument. My opponent even admitted that in most cases, marijuana gives the user a mellow state and does not cause the person to be a violent danger. The same is true with alcohol. There is no mellow state, but most of the time, there is no violence. And with alcohol there is a greater risk of violence than that of cannabis. A study suggests that 40% of all violent crimes involve alcohol. Perspective beats my opponent's third contention. https://ncadd.org... Opponent's 4th contention: Marijuana is a gate-way drug. This seems logical, but the proof is mostly public opinion. There is abundant evidence to suggest that this is not true. Here is a quote in an article about the gate-way drug argument: "Patterns in progression of drug use from adolescence to adulthood are strikingly regular. Because it is the most widely used illicit drug, marijuana is predictably the first illicit drug most people encounter. Not surprisingly, most users of other illicit drugs have used marijuana first. In fact, most drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana -- usually before they are of legal age. There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." This proves that the gate-way argument is a fallacy. There is correlation of users of harder illicit drugs and marijuana because most of them have tried marijuana first, but that is because that is the first one they encounter. There is no evidence that marijuana CAUSES people to turn to harder drugs. The article also says, "Unfortunately, there is one important way in which marijuana use can result in exposure to other more dangerous drugs. Laws against marijuana have created an unregulated black market, in which criminals control the supply and may attempt to market more dangerous drugs to people who just want marijuana." Clearly, the only reason that marijuana could be a gateway drug is because of the laws criminalizing it and thus causing it to appear on the black market along with more dangerous drugs. http://stopthedrugwar.org... Over to you, con.