Marijuana should be legalized

I can look forward to debating such a fine opponent as Lars is. I ask that he refrain from making rebuttals in his opening argument, for it would unbalance the debate. Rebuttals will be made in the 3rd round. I apologize for not clarifying this earlier. I will be arguing for the legalization of marijuana in three contentions, and they are: C1. Economic Benefit C2. Personal Autonomy C3. Health Benefit Good luck! Economic Benefit The war on drugs. This is a war that sees no end, no progress, yet constantly leeches billions to be funneled into numerous programs and enforcement of prohibition. Legalizing cannabis (marijuana) would accrue $8.7 billion in savings [1]. That's money that was solely spent through the war on drugs on containing marijuana, which hasn't been done. In 2002, 17.3% of adults aged 18-25 smoked marijuana. In 2010, of that same group, 18.5% smoked marijuana [2]. The war on marijuana doesn't seem to be working; legalizing marijuana would get rid of the facade that these programs are deterring anyone from using, and it will save us billions. Oddly enough, another $8.7 billion dollars is to be had through tax revenues from legalizing marijuana [1]. That's a total of $17.4 billion dollars we can save by legalizing cannabis. This isn't to mention the amount of people and families it will put to work. The marijuana industry would be a enormous one; growing, shipping, distributing, researching, etc. In California alone, the industry would be expected to create 50,000 jobs at around $1.4 billion in wages [3]. Finding stats on the amount of jobs marijuana would create is difficult, seeing as it's illegal, but if we take the 50K and multiply it by 50 (number of states) then subtract 10,000 for each state (pretty rough math, but Cali. is a big state. Some would create more jobs, others less.), then we are left with a number of jobs in between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000. That's that many less impoverished families, with that much more money (approx. $70 billion) to be commercially spent, thus stimulating the economy to a great extent. Personal Autonomy Marijuana use is illegal in the eyes of the government, but what if you feel differently? Even if you don't, is it O.K. as a third person to take away someone's right and freedom to partake in any activity they wish, as long as it doesn't hurt another individual's rights? The most widespread answer would be no, it's not alright. Freedom is what this country was found upon, and laws that prohibit that freedom are unjust and unconstitutional; marijuana use doesn't impose on the rights of others, so why make it illegal? Alcohol is legal, and I would argue that that heavily imposes on other's rights. Drunk driving alone causes the deaths of too many innocent individuals, yet you can get alcohol in probably every small town in this country. We can see a lack of consistency within our government, and it's time to change that. Think of it this way....members of the Ku Klux Klan are allowed to meet and discuss how white's are supreme and probably trash talk local African-Americans, and that's totally legal. Yet, once you take a puff of that cheba, you are a villain and are put under arrest. Does this make a whole lot of sense? A drug that literally has killed nobody is illegal, while congregating to express racism isn't. While I agree that the latter should remain legal, it's silly to think that marijuana should remain illegal with things way worse going on. Health Benefits Widely thought is that marijuana is harmful to your body. The opposite is actually true. It is concluded that marijuana doesn't attribute to cancer growth or development, but rather hinders it and protects one from cancer. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years, stated to the Washington Post that his latest, largest to date survey of it's kind found no correlation between cancer and marijuana, and stated that "marijuana also contains the chemical THC which...may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous." [4] Think of the potentiality of marijuana and the chemicals it contains; keeping it illegal means keeping further research of these chemicals and their effects illegal. We need to legalize marijuana in order to develop further stages of cancer treatments through THC. Not only is it helpful in cancer situations, where cancer cells actually die when exposed to cannabis [5], but cannabis is relieving in a variety of facets. "Cannabis and cannabinoids have been studied in the laboratory and the clinic for relief of pain, nausea and vomiting, anxiety, and loss of appetite" [5] |Conclusion| It's simply myopic at this point to frown upon the legalization of marijuana. It's variety of uses combined with the revenue it would bring in shines above and beyond any possible risk it imposes. All of this is unnecessary in providing a case for marijuana, however, because Personal Autonomy rules over all else. As long as you aren't imposing on another individual's rights, you are free to do what you will. On a personal level, it's not the job of the government to limit you. They should not be allowed to tell you you can't buy a certain plant any more than they can tell you you can't buy a certain bread. The thought is ludicrous. The definition of should has been met through my case. "Should- indicating a desirable or expected state." Those who try to argue that marijuana's benefits are not desirable are clearly not looking at the facts. I urge the readers to keep reading on! Favorite the debate! Keep up with it! And VOTE VOTE VOTE! Thank you. Sources 1. http://www.drugwarfacts.org... 2. http://oas.samhsa.gov... 3. http://www.canorml.org... 4. http://www.washingtonpost.com... 5. http://www.cancer.gov...