Marijuana should be legalized for both Medicinal and Recreational use

Reading over it, we see eye to eye on many things. I would like to stress that most of his points he is trying to make however are based solely on opinion with no legitimate sources to back up his arguments. That being said his opinions are relate very closely to mine but as stated in my previous argument they're again some fundamental differences that separates us. 1. No, would legalizing marijuana for recreational use have any impact on lowering the instances of driving while high? No, obviously, however having it illegal will not lower the instances of driving while intoxicated on Marijuana either. The point that I was making is its been proven in fact that driving while intoxicated on Marijuana is substantially safer than driving while intoxicated on Alcohol or other legal prescription drugs such as: Xanax, and Hydrocodone. I do not condone driving under the influence or implying that it is safe, however I am saying that it is significantly safer than other legal narcotics available, I am implying that the punishment for doing so should be no where near classified of that on the same level as Driving under the influence of Alcohol and I see no need for their to be implemented devices to check if someone is intoxicated on Marijuana while driving. 2. Con makes a very valid argument here where he states about his concern with the quality and safeness of Marijuana if it is mass produced by large corporations. I will begin my argument here by pointing out a section in your post in which you state: "it is legal to grow fruit, and yet local products are still more expensive. " This is a valid point and by theory is correct, fruit and vegetables are legal to grow and yet big corporations still rule the market, by theory this is correct however I feel you are comparing Marijuana too much to Fruit and other foods. The reasons why more people do not grow their own fruits and vegetables is because of time and land. To grow a full sized Apple tree it takes approximately 2-3 years to grow and mature and require a significant amount of land to grow many trees. This plays a big part as Marijuana cultivation takes approximately 6-10 weeks from from seed to harvest and require little amount of land for a large amount of crop which also yields a significant amount of Marijuana. I am not denying the fact that pesticides will not be used in the production of legal Cannabis because they probably will and they are used today, the fact of the matter is they're not necessary to use as pesticides can actually harm the plant as any good grower would no. Cheaper alternatives such as bat guano (. http://www.marijuanafertilizers.com...) are great natural non-toxic fertilizers. Con is also neglecting the fact of other alternative growing of Marijuana such as Hydroponics which involves growing the Marijuana in water. As I stated before I cannot refute the fact of Pesticides as a potential hazard in the legalization of Cannabis but I do not think it should have any matter in the fact of Legalization of Cannabis. 3. This is the biggest disagreement that I have had so far with Con's proposal. Where he has made several hypocritical remarks in which he states "War on Drugs has been ineffective" and then states "eliminating the source of these drugs rather than discouraging its use with insane punishments for users. " Most of the illegal plants grown such as Marijuana, Papi (Which produces Opium), and Coca; are significantly grown in 3rd world countries in which we have no control over the production for political reasons, the domestic grow and the war on drugs has also been severely ineffective. The war on Marijuana alone has cost the United States an estimated $42 Billion and 738,916 arrests for simple possession of Marijuana (. http://www.alternet.org...), Think of all the things that the United States government could accomplish with an extra $42 billion. turning non-violent offenders into harden criminals and filling up prison cells where violent inmates need to be housed. It takes approximately ï¿½31,106 ($42,000) to house these non-violent inmates on top of that $42 billion. On top of that law enforcement has confiscated and destroyed millions upon millions of plants throughout the year and have not made a dent. The fact of the matter is Marijuana will be cultivated, produced, and sold no matter what the government does, the War on Cannabis is a failure so might as well tap into the money that we would save to pay for more important things like Health care and teachers which we so desperately need. Legalization of marijuana would take billions of dollars away from these drug cartels in fact hurting them more than spending billions of dollars fighting this endless war on drugs which we will never win. We have already been working with every organization possible and it still has had little impact on anything. 4. Con makes a valid point here but is digging way to deep into this when he states that "Why get an endorphin release from exercise when you can smoke a joint and feel twice as good? " A recent Government study indicates that over 83 Million people over the age of 12 years old will try Marijuana before they graduate school, and an estimated 200 Million Americans smoke it; on top of another 200 million will try it for the first time, Con is trying to imply that legalization of Marijuana will lead to a nation of "lazy stoners" which is simply not the case. The legalization of Marijuana I believe will have little effect on the amount of people who smoke it (But will obviously increase slightly. ) Legalization will simply take away the harsh punishments of smoking this benign plant freeing up billions upon billions of dollars, clearing up prison cells in our crowded prisons. I believe if we should endorse anything endorse something that has many benefits, that actually relaxes you, and something that will generate billions of dollars to the economy and have numerous positive effects on the nation as a whole, Prohibition doesn't work, it has never worked, thus why not take advantage of it. Thank you to my readers and to Con, I have had a wonderful time debating with you so far and look forward to your future response. I urge my readers to look over my argument and see the facts that are clearly laid out and see that I am the correct side to vote for! Thank you, I am looking forward to your rebuttal!