In the United States, Marijana Should be Legalized

Thank you for posting your next argument. I would like to start off with a famous quote that fits the subject. "A nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself up by the handle." Winston Churchill said that in 1903. You speak a lot regarding money in most of your argument. You claim that we would actually acquire additional wealth if Marijuana was legalized, this is somewhat true. But do you know what else we would profit from? Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Heroin. Generating more currency is not a suitable reason to decriminalize something. If you are okay with those drugs being legalized, let me use some other examples. "The Untied states would profit from child prostitution." "The United States would profit from selling nukes to Iraq" "The United States would profit from raiding houses and stealing people clothes." Also, Marijuana is extremely cheap and easy to grow. There would be a lot of people who would just grow their own instead of paying taxes on it. I do agree that it would bring some extra cash to the United States, but not as much as everyone is making it out to be. Again, Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Heroin would in fact decrease alcohol use among high school students. There is a problem with your studies you listed. The studies were about high school students, not about the rest of the Americans. Yes, alcohol does lead to numerous deaths, but so does Marijuana. First of all, the legalization Marijuana is not trading one for the other as you claim. There will still be a lot of people who drink, most of them will not be high school students. Secondly, if Marijuana is legalized high school students would not be allowed to smoke it in the first place, so your test is faulty. Do you believe it should also be legal for high school students to get it too? Thirdly many people believe the lie that Marijuana has no harmful effects. Claiming that would make you guilty of fallacies. Below is a list of just the short term effects. 1. Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch). This can be a big problem while driving, legalizing Marijuana would increase the death rate due to car crashes. 2. Problems with recollection and learning. In today's world we need to be able to learn for the problems we will face in our future. 3. Loss of coordination. Again, this would result in more death from car crashes, boating accidents, ect… 4. Trouble with thinking and problem-solving. We have many problems already in today's world that need to be solved. 5. Increased heart rate. Heart attacks are already one of the top killers in America, why would we want to increase that? You also say that legalizing Marijuana will stop crime. This is also a lie that many people believe. Your link talks about Mexicans coming to the Untied States to sell the drug. Think about it, do you really think that people will just stop coming in from Mexico to sell Marijuana just because it's legalized? In reality, the people from Mexico would see that Marijuana is legal in United States and come up here to sell more. You also are making it out to sound like crime will just stop if Marijuana is legalized. There will still be other drugs that are illegal, therefore there will still be crime. There are other crimes, dangers, and harmful effects that I will save for my next argument. I thank my opponent for this debate and look forward to your next argument. Sources: (1). http://faculty.washington.edu... (2). http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca... (3). http://en.wikipedia.org... (4). http://www.preventingheartdisease.org... (5). http://en.wikipedia.org...