End the War on Drugs...

I will argue that the United States as a moral imperative to do some, but not all the things my opponent has set forth. Let us examine my opponent's points, which are elegant and well crafted, in a simpler light 1. Drugs may be harmful, but that is a person's choice, as drug use does not harm anyone but the user. 2a. Drugs are dangerous solely because they are not pure or regulated. 2b. Organized crime is funded by illegal, unregulated drug use. 2c. Drug Cartels destabilize society 3a. Legalizing drugs ends the war on drugs, saving money 3b. Legality of drugs would diminish arrests, saving imprisonment costs. 3c. Taxes on drugs would bring in revenue. As part of my argument, I will give a short summary of what I am about to go over, so that the audience can clearly see how my argument is going to proceed. 1. Most illegal drugs have no medical benefit and lead to psychological and physical dependency. 2. Even in their purified and controlled form, these drugs retain those characteristics 3. Those characteristics on the individual, greatly impact society in general in terms of insurance costs. 4. Thus, full legalization of all drugs would be immoral because all society would be paying massive amounts of money for widespread recreation and irresponsibility. I will first start out by stating that marijuana is already legal and controlled. Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active ingredient in Marijuana is marketed in a pure isomer form under trade name "Marinol". For the purposes of this debate, we shall ignore Marijuana. As a Pharmacy student, I shall be going over the chemical facts and some rudimentary mechanisms of action involving the drugs my opponent has brought up, and will limit my discussion to the purified forms, not the street forms. . http://en.wikipedia.org... Benzoylmethyl ecgonine, otherwise known as "Cocaine" is a neurotransmitter reuptake inhibitor that chemically allows neurotransmitters to spew into the brain for excessive amounts of time. This is what makes it a stimulant. In addition, this is also what makes it a highly addictive drug, physically and psychologically. The medical benefits of this drug are obsolete as its medicinal purposes have been isolated from the addictive purposes long ago. . http://en.wikipedia.org... . http://en.wikipedia.org... Meaning, the only use of this drug at all, is for recreation. The price to pay is complete and total addiction along with severe health detriments. This is an inarguable point. . http://en.wikipedia.org... Diacetylmorphine, otherwise known as "Heroin", is a synthetically modified opiate. As with Cocaine, this drug acts on the brain, this time, on opioid receptors that are linked with a variety of physiological functions. Dependency and overuse of these receptors in the body will lead to all the symptoms of Heroin withdrawal: Intense pain, anxiety, muscle spasms, etc. Essentially, these are all symptoms that are twice as bad as the benefits they give as a medication. Opioid drugs in the same family as Heroin exist and lessen the side effects while still providing some medicinal purpose. . http://en.wikipedia.org... . http://en.wikipedia.org... Meaning we conclude the same thing as above. Heroin, like Cocaine, can only be used for recreational purposes at the cost of good health. . http://en.wikipedia.org... Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, aka "Ecstasy" is a synthetic, methamphetamine derivative. I'm sure you can all see the pattern by now. Like its two cohorts, the medical benefits of Ecstasy have been removed and synthesized into other drugs. Leaving Ecstasy to be (as with the other two drugs) purely recreational at the massive expense of health. ********** The conclusion we have at this point is the following: The drugs my opponent wants to FULLY legalize are extremely, EXTREMELY dangerous to personal health, regardless of control, and will definitely lead to addiction both physical and psychological, with absolutely no medical benefit in the slightest. ********** Now, the principle of insurance. We all pay health insurance fees that allow us to bring down the costs of medication. Plenty of Americans forego other benefits and even a higher salary purely for a good health plan. Insurance runs under the principle of cost sharing: The healthy pay for the sick, and costs are shared at least semi-equally. When more and more people get sick, the pool of shared money is strained, and everyone has to pay more and more money. In the universe my opponent is setting up, recreational drug use will be as common as alcohol consumption. You now have a massive proportion of the population in dire health because of their addiction and the naturally toxic nature of these substances. All these people are covered by insurance, and now, insurance rates skyrocket. Prices for these drugs become heavily inflated. On top of all that, the government taxes them. Hospitals and doctor's offices are flooded, making insurance rates rise even further. Now, insurance is ineffective because the rates are just as high as the price for the drug. The only alternative? Get your fix without all the red tape. And we're back where we started. Non-purified substances for cheap. No insurance needed, just support all the evil things that my opponent is trying to avoid. Only now, you're sharing drug cartel money with doctors and Big Pharma, and the entire population is trying to recover from what they thought was a legal and healthy recreational habit. To conclude, my opponent's ignorance of the Health Insurance system has virtually bankrupted America, in terms of both health and wealth.