Marijuana should be legalized for both Medicinal and Recreational use

Great! Thanks for the quick response. Now it's time to rebut and wrap this up… 1.The fact of the matter is that "drug-driving" laws exist already in most states. (http://www.1800duilaws.com...) These laws include the legal drugs you mentioned. Legal drugs that impair coordination are required to state so on their labels, and violating that warning should and does result in a penalty. I still endorse these types of penalties on drivers under the influence of drugs, including marijuana. It's legality is really of no concern in this debate, and I brought it up solely as a way of demonstrating that laws regarding marijuana need to be changed to deal with the actual danger it poses to society, which is that it is an inebriant, not that it's damaging to the user. My entire argument revolves around the fact that marijuana should remain illegal, but the laws governing it should be massively overhauled. We should focus on the aspects of drugs that are actually dangerous and adequately equip our law enforcement with the tools and policies that will have a positive impact on the problem. 2.I also maintain that corporations if given the ability to legally grow and distribute marijuana commercially, would seek the cheapest method without regards to safety. Additionally, I maintain that, because of convenience and cost, most people would purchase their marijuana from these large corporations, thereby exposing themselves to the harmful additives and pesticides used in its production. In essence, legalizing marijuana would make it less safe to consume. 3.My opponent is actually agreeing with me on this point without realizing it. My contention is that we need to drastically change the laws concerning marijuana. As he states, we are jailing non-violent dealers and users, gobbling up resources that could be used much more effectively elsewhere. I agree. Instead of punishing the person who winds up with the product, we need to fight it at the source. The Mexican government is rife with corruption and cartel influence, which means their efforts are doomed to fail. The government may fight one cartel, but another cartel is making the campaign contributions that put that government in office. (http://bigjournalism.com...) What needs to be done to solve this problem? The US must immediately cease funding to the Mexican government for its War on Drugs, and must instead assist the government in gathering genuine intel and demanding that Mexico follow through on it. It is not just Mexico's problem – violence is bleeding over the border, so it's our War too. 4.Pro misinterpreted my argument here, perhaps because it looked like I was making that clichï¿½ reference to the lazy stoner. I was no attempting to make that correlation. I simply wanted to say that government-endorsed unhealthy behavior is not productive. My opponent agrees with me that laws need to be changed to keep users out of jail, and the absurd amount of resources we dedicate to this ‘problem' should be allocated elsewhere. While legalizing it outright is not the correct answer, analyzing what has and has not worked in our drug policy and adjusting laws accordingly would be of great benefit to the USA. Great debate Pro, regardless of who wins. Thanks for the challenge.