Legalization of Marijuana

In your response to points 1 and 4, your argument is a stretch. Of course people are going to make bad decisions and there are certain places the government has conceded (like with alcohol) and rightly so. The difference between alcohol and marijuana is that alcohol is less likely to cause long-term damage on your body and has no chance of causing long-term damage on your brain, unlike marijuana. In no way is outlawing drugs for the good of the people authoritarian nor will it lead to such rule. In your response to point 2, again, it's not about getting rid of the problem so much as it is about cutting the losses. The point is, drunk driving is such a problem already that police don't need to deal with driving while high on top of that. Responses to Arguments 1.) The dangers of marijuana are absolutely relevant to this debate just as the side effects of medication are relevant to the approval process of the FDA. However, I do not wish to start a debate within a debate so we will let the audience decide if they should be concerned with the legalization of something that makes people stupid. To your first point in which you reference Portugal, I find those statistics very interesting. However, it makes one wonder if the government increased spending in anti-drug campaigns. Making people learn the hard way is an option but not necessarily one that provides for the general welfare of the people, which the U.S. government is required to do. Whether this issue falls under the government's jurisdiction is another matter, but I believe in this case it is. Fast food and other unhealthy things do not parallel well with marijuana. Marijuana changes people, with long-term use permanently, which has an impact on society as a whole. Smoking in public places has been banned for the same reasons. Parents did not want their kids to see people smoking as frequently. So too could one claim that parents to not want to see people high or smoking weed in public because weed is unhealthy for your mind and causes you to act differently, something that parents probably wouldn't want their kids to see. 2.) Yes, legalizing things reduces crime, but there is a fine line in this train of thought. Legalizing prostitution or theft would reduce crime as well but only because the definition of crime has changed. Even separate from that argument, what would be the cost for legalizing such activity? One must consider the whole picture and impact it would have on society. Cartels would also take a major hit by a one-time heavy investment in not a fence, but a wall at the southern border to prevent trafficking and a domestic emphasis on control and cultural change. 3.) {The first response here could also be applied to #2}. First, the incarceration rate would go down even more by making many more things illegal. Why don't we do it? Because it would be ultimately detrimental to society. Instead, we need a change in order to create a culture that sees the damage caused by substance abuse which can be done without letting people play "trial and error" by decriminalizing marijuana. The second solution to this problem is instead of putting people in prison, enroll them in rehabilitation programs (probably even outpatient for minor offenses) instead of throwing them in jail. This principle is being used in other countries for a wide range of crimes and drug crime would be a perfect avenue to start trying that method here in the U.S. 4.) Absolutely, marijuana has untapped potential. My only objection is to any and all use that damages brain cells and makes people high. There are pills that will hopefully be on the market soon that are THC-free. Other species of the plant with no THC should also be allowed for other uses. My only objection is to using marijuana that inhibits a person's mind. All things considered, it is not rational, wise, or honorable to use drugs recreationally for the purpose of getting high and the government is right in making such activity and the substances through which said purposes are achieved illegal.