Marijuana ought to be legalized

First I will bring my contentions to light, and then I will address my opponent's arguments against legalizing marijuana. Before I introduce my case, I would like to make a pre-case observation. Since the resolutions uses the word "ought" it is implying that marijuana "should" be legalized, not that it needs to be legalized inste-facto, merely that it should happen. Contention 1) Marijuana poses little to no health risks. The only proven ill health effects seen in smoking marijuana seem to have to do with short term memory loss while intoxicated (similar to alcohol), and effects on the lung due to the smoke. Obviously there are ways to get past the latter such as technologies involving vaporizers which brings the THC out of the plant using warm water vapor rather than inhaling smoke. You could also bake it food like brownies, rice krispie treats, or butter. It can also be used in tea or a pill form. The fact is, marijuana is one of the safest drugs in the world, it's illegality completely disregarded. It is infinitely better for you than alcohol and if everyone stopped drinking alcohol and started smoking weed, that would actually INCREASE public health. People can be addicted to almost anything psychologically including fast food, television, and yes, marijuana. However, there is no evidence that marijuana, contrary to alcohol, causes physical dependence, heavily reducing its health risk. Contention 2 Freedom. If one chooses to become unhealthy by eating fatty, smoking cigarettes, or drinking liquor, that is their personal choice to do so. Who is the government to say that ones happiness can be intervened by a higher power because they claim the moral high ground by saving you from "yourself. " Freedom ought to be protected as long as it puts no one else in danger, and smoking a joint in the comfort of ones home surely hurts no one. The only arguable statement is that it hurts yourself, but if that is true, which I am not willing to admit, than why is all fatty foods not made illegal? Why isn't alcohol illegal? WHY AREN'T CIGARETTES ILLEGAL? Because way too many people use them. The government has tried make alcohol illegal and it did not work because over 70% of the population still used alcohol despite it being illegal. In the same concept, I do not know the exact number, but many people continue to use marijuana despite its illegality. Marijuana is trafficked into our country more than all other illegal drugs combined. This follows into my next argument. Contention 3 If weed will continue to be used whether its illegal or not, why not just benefit from it? If weed is legalized it opens up a brand new market to capitalize on. With the government involved in the creation, taxation, and distribution of this product, prosperity would be close behind. Something we do not realize is that making a drug that is so popularly used like weed illegal even though it has very limited harmful effects, you are putting billions of American dollars straight into the pockets of the drug czars and drug lords who DEPEND on the illegality of this substance to take advantage of and make money off of. So much of our money IS GOING TO MEXICO because we, America, as a whole, are so ignorant that we have attached the stigma of "criminal" and "illicit" without even obtaining proper medical or scientific evidence to support such fallacious claims. In fact, in 1934 the court hearing that made marijuana illegal cited evidences from their main source, a blue collar media propagandist and said things about weed such as it "makes a negro look at a white woman twice" and it "makes white mans women lust for dark skin. " Is this really what we have sunk to? We have no evidence supporting the illegality of marijuana that is not extremely fallacious and/or racist. Onto my opponents case. My opponent says that making marijuana legal will impact our health and economy in a negative fashion. I ask for him to explain this knowing that 1) If we taxed marijuana, our government would make billions and 2) If everyone ingested marijuana it would save countless lives if they used it instead of other legal recreational drugs. My opponent also makes the statement that public health services need to be consulted before this is even proposed. I'm sorry, are they not making enough money on the misfortunes of other people? Do they need to keep every illegal substance illegal so they have enough money to keep these so called "criminals" institutionalized? Again, I am only arguing that marijuana SHOULD be legal, people will definitely have a problem with that, but that does not mean that it still should not be legal. You also say an awful lot about drug addiction, this is irrelevant to marijuana because one cannot become physically addicted to marijuana. Even the government has admitted that they were incorrect about this foolhardy statement, as well as the fact that marijuana DOES NOT kill brain cells. You also say that alcohol has had a negative impact on our health and our economy. First of all, please explain how it hurts economy when so many people purchase alcohol and the government relies heavily on its revenue. And on the negative health impacts of alcohol, yes I completely agree, alcohol is a devastating drug, and I encourage every person who drinks alcohol to smoke marijuana instead because, if this actually happens, their health risks decrease dramatically. Therefore, if weed does not hurt me, and it does not hurt you, WHY THE F*CK IS IT STILL ILLEGAL? !? !