Marijuana Should Be Legal

Rebuttals: "Essentially, all drugs have harmful effects. This holds true in regards to marijuana. Advocates for legalization claim marijuana is less dangerous than smoking. This was proven demonstrably false by a study conducted for the European Respiratory Journal, which found one joint of marijuana increased the risk of lung cancer by 8%, as opposed to a pack of cigarettes increasing the risk by only 7%. [7] Furthermore, over 30 independent studies confirm marijuana can lead to schizophrenia. [8] A study by the University of Maryland adds "research has shown that children who started using marijuana before the age of 16 are at greater risk of permanent cognitive deficits, and have a significantly higher incidence of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia." [9]" While it may indeed be a harmful drug, I do not believe that this is a good enough reason to make it illegal. Making marijuana illegal will cause problems with the economy considering the amount of money that the U.S currently makes from it. This would cause another event like The Prohibition, because the fact of the matter is, people aren't going to stop taking drugs. Marijuana staying legal is the most healthy option for the U.S. Tobacco causes hundreds of thousands of deaths per year and is a bigger problem as I have demonstrated, and keeping marijuana legal will prevent deaths. I would rather have people who are unhealthy (consider the health benefits as well. Preventing deaths from car crashes and cancer is extremely beneficial) than a bunch of people dying every year. So making it illegal will cause more deaths and a prohibition. The most safe option is to keep it legal. Also on a side note, there are studies that show that tobacco is worse for your lungs than marijuana. The University of San Francisco put forth research stating that "Smoking cigarettes can cause significant lung damage, including respiratory symptoms, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. It accounts for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly one in every five deaths, each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data for the long-term effects of marijuana use on the pulmonary system has been scarce until now." And as for marijuana, it increases the air flow in your lungs and helps you breathe better. I also have a technicality to present. If tobacco is causing more deaths with lung cancer, it is still technically worse for you than marijuana. Marijuana might have a higher chance of giving you lung cancer, but the disease itself isn't as extreme and doesn't cause deaths. Here is the source for this: https://www.ucsf.edu... a substance, even for strictly medical purposes, is bound to increase use." Good. We need marijuana to be used more in order to reverse the effects of tobacco and alcohol. There may be cases of people who aren't healthy, but I believe legalizing marijuana is all about decreasing the amount of deaths. "There is not an adequate base of research that shows marijuana is effective for treating any serious medical condition. Therefore, no major group of medical experts supports the use of smoked marijuana for treatment of health problems." There is also no evidence saying that it cannot. But there are scientific studies describing how it can cure cancer, and using science show how physics work and the process of curing cancer. "If marijuana is legalized to increase revenue, and fabricate a better economy, it serves to value economics above humanity. Morality, however, values humanity inexplicably and irrefutably above the economy." People would lose their jobs if marijuana was illegal as businesses shut down. The economy is important for many people. Also, ban marijuana and people will die more often. How by any means would that be a moral act of any kind? "Perhaps the most popular legalization to date, in the US, is Colorado. While many share success stories of the legalization, we find that more relevant are the detrimental effects that are widespread and prevailing." Though Colorado may be a bad example, you specifically state that many other (states I assume) share success stories. I want what is beneficial for the majority of the United States. If you make marijuana illegal, most of the state's will have an increased death rate. Using data for only Colorado does not determine data for the whole U.S. But even considering that marijuana can be this detrimental, it is still nowhere near as bad as having over 400,000 deaths per year by people deciding to smoke tobacco instead. Conclusion: All of your arguments fall apart because even if marijuana can be detrimental to the people of the U.S, it will effect us negatively in the long run due to the fact that all it will do is cause more deaths for the citizens of the United States. We cannot have a perfect country where nobody is unhealthy, but between banning marijuana and keeping it legal, keeping it legal has the best benefits. Deaths are far worse than unhealthy citizens.