Cannabis

My opponent dismisses evidence of marijuana being a gateway drugs as nothing but drug war propaganda despite that the research has been done within the last five years. My opponent then makes a statistical fallacy claiming that if marijuana was a gateway drug then we would have millions of hard drug users. This shows a clear lack of understanding of what a gateway drug is. A gateway drug is by definition a drug that when used increases the 'likeliness' of moving to harder drugs. An increase 'likeliness' doesn't mean that you are guaranteed or likely to have it happen, it merely means that you are significantly more likely to have it happen. For instance driving while intoxicated greatly increases the 'likeliness' of a fatal crash yet it the majority of drives of intoxicated people don't end up in a crash. And just like intoxicated driving increases fatal crashes, marijuana increases hard drug use. My opponent then uses a highly bias source http://www.auburn.edu... that is so out dated that majority that the info in it is presently known to be false. My opponent then criticizes my source for marijuana's impulsiveness for also studying cocaine. If my opponent would have read through the source he would have realized that cocaine and marijuana were tested separately for impulsiveness. My opponent has made overgeneralizations of marijuana's anti-cancer effect. He fails to realize that the studies are not conflicting. Marijuana is shown by actual research that it can worsen certain cancers, despite having compounds that help with other cancers. Not only has there been countless studies showing that, but science has even found the mechanic for how marijuana can worsen cancer and increase likeliness of infection. Such overgeneralizations of marijuana's benefits promoted by pro-marijuana campaigns often can cause people to self medicate in situations where it is harmful and sometimes even lethal to do so. (Oh woops, the marijuana worsen cancer in your situation, sorry that we didn't mention that marijuana worsens certain cancers. Oh woops, you got an infection because you were self medicating on marijuana, sorry that we didn't mention that marijuana is an immunosuppressant, in fact we just dismissed that as drug war propaganda.) How about instead of giving overgeneralizations of marijuana, you recommend people to consult with their doctor first so they don't do something that may end up harming or even killing them. My opponent claims that "the increasing use of marijuana if anything is another reason to legalize it." By this logic, if something like cocaine or heroin had increasing use among youth then it would be a "reason to legalize it". The logic that an increasing use among youth is reason to legalize it, is flawed on its most fundamental level. But there is one thing I agree with my opponent on, arresting users has negative effects. Instead I prefer higher fines and less jail time. The higher fines are a stronger deterrent to marijuana use than arrest and it doesn't increase the prison population. My opponent source http://mic.com... doesn't mention anything about lower obesity. As for everything else mentioned in the source, these are merely reason for medical marijuana, and as such have no reason for recreational marijuana use. I would like to make it clear that I am not against medicines that use marijuana, I merely believe it should only be prescribed by a doctor since marijuana is harmful. Something being harmful doesn't mean it doesn't have a medical use, horrible poisons and venoms are being used currently to make drugs and fight cancer, yet this doesn't justify people eating poison or injecting themselves with venom. My opponent has failed to give any good reasons why marijuana should be legalized recreationally. In conclusion, marijuana has many medical properties that should be research and used in medicine. This medical marijuana use however does not justify recreational use. It is proven in the states like Colorado that legalization of marijuana increases use, and with that increase there will be more people harmed by marijuana. This harm is very real and more is learned about it each day. This harm is proven by science and affects people who use it. This harm outweighs any benefits of legalization, and is the primary reason why I don't support the pro-marijuana campaign. I feel that I have proved my reasoning and that there are real reasons to be against recreation marijuana. With that I conclude this debate.