The legalization of Marijuana will cause more harm than good.

Now I'll refute the arguments placed against mine, and add one more contention this round. Contention 1: The legalization of Marijuana would increase the amount of highway fatalities - Rebuttal. Now when my opponent says that it's "just as much a catalyst as a deterrent" he doesn't state his reasoning behind him thinking this, though I will concede that most statistics on this would be no more than a guess. My opponent's claims that possession of Marijuana not being a felony is unfounded. Under FEDERAL LAW (which trumps state law) carrying ANY amount of Marijuana can is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000 on the first offence which is exactly what a felony is, refer to link [3] in R1. I would like to point out that the link my opponent provided it a left-leaning organization that supports Marijuana legalization, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Also, People who want to keep their job, want to get a job, or keep their record clean obviously would be deterred by these penalties, and if the cops aren't doing their job right then they should be punished. [1] As for the refutation of my main point of contention1 in R1, do you really think people should be driving "high"? The link my opponent provided was from a Computer Science professor that only gave instructions on how to write a speech, and didn't provide evidence that the human attention span is only twenty minutes long. [2]Aside from that, Marijuana is a something that causes the user to have a hard time to focus, and thus is a hazard to be under the influence on when driving. [3] Having an altered sense of space and time could not benefit you in any manner; an example being when things seem further away and you feel like you have a long time to react, when in fact you do not, you would end up read-ending the driver in front of you. Again after checking the NORML link I think it can be said this is due to the relaxation that Marijuana causes, though this does not mean that is it less dangerous. When I said "relaxation" I meant muscle relaxation, which even NORML concedes that it does. [4]Furthermore, the link my opponent provided isn't instructions on how to drive correctly, but rather how to combat one's own road-rage issues. Muscle relaxation obviously would slow your reaction time, which would be a HORRIBLE thing for driving. Marijuana also causes a lack of coordination "people show the same lack of coordination on standard 'drunk driver' tests as do people who have had too much to drink". [5] Disorientation is defined as "the loss of proper bearings, or a state of mental confusion as to time, place, or identity", as you have already concede that is effects the users perception of time, and it has been proven that THC impairs memory, I think it's safe to assume that this claim is true. [6][7] Now we come to Marijuana's hallucinogenic and delusional properties, the fact that Marijuana can lead to a state of psychosis (hallucinations and delusions) and that Marijuana can cause paranoia which can lead to delusions is enough to convince anyone who isn't brain-dead not to ponder whether or not it's true. That being the case, these things happening while driving would cause more harm, than good, should we enable such behaviour by legalizing the very thing that people would abuse. Contention 2: The legalization of Marijuana will lead to more littering, and second-hand smoke - Rebuttal. There are no law prohibiting smoking in public, the work place, restaurants, etcetera as far as I'm aware of. Those things are left up to the employers and owners of the workplace, or anything else in the private sector you can think of. The amount of tar in one Marijuana cigarette is equal to TWENTY regular cigarettes,and contains 50-70% more carcinogens than Tobacco (refer to [9]in R1). Tar and carcinogens are what is harmful in the second-hand smoke, thus the Tobacco studies are relevant to the amount of harm that second-hand smoke can cause. Secondly, the fact that many Marijuana users mix Marijuana with Tobacco provides that they probably have already carelessly threw a cigarette butt out the window at some point, since they smoke it. Beyond that, it's people, not Marijuana users alone, that are littering; cigarette butts are the most littered item in America, after all. Why would someone who doesn't care to harm them self and the people around them with dangerous smoke care to throw something small and useless aside? If Marijuana users were allowed to smoke in public, I'm sure they would toss aside the remains of their cigarette/blunt/roach when it got low enough to burn their lips and fingers, or their Marijuana cigarette butts should legalization lead to filters being added. Contention 3: The legalization of Marijuana would lead to less productivity in the United States of America Marijuana users are often tardy to work more often than non-users, have increased absences, accidents, workers' compensation claims, and job turnover. Now being able to smoke more often, or again if a user quit smoking for their job, these occurrences will only rise. Also, Marijuana users sometime experience a burnout, which is someone who has smoked so much that they have become lazy and unmotivated to do anything else except getting "high". Marijuana affects the reward system in the brain, making it less receptive, and thus the user less motivated. And lastly, it affects a lot of the cognitive functions that would be required to do many jobs efficiently. [12][13][14]I hope that Con can respond swiftly and add more to this debate. Thank you for your interest in this debate. [1]. http://en.wikipedia.org... [2]. http://www.cs.utk.edu... [3]. http://www.nida.nih.gov... [4]. http://norml.org... [5]. http://www.nida.nih.gov... [6]. http://www.livescience.com... [7]. http://www.thefreedictionary.com... [8]. http://www.sciencedaily.com... [9]. https://health.google.com... [10]. http://www.foxnews.com... [11]. http://www.urbandictionary.com... [12]. http://www.teenvogue.com... [13]. http://www.urbandictionary.com... [14]. http://www.drugabuse.gov...