Drug Legalization

Thanks to pro for his interesting points. 1. He says criminalizing something increases its use and cites Prohibition. But it appears my opponent doesn't need my help to defeat this argument, as he himself points out that there is "no single compilation of Prohibition statistics which would enable us to determine the degree of success which Prohibition enjoyed during its lifetime." Based off what he says alone, you can determine that Prohibition based arguments should not be made because there's no reliable way to determine whether it decreased alcohol use or not. 2. Assuming the Gateway theory is false, I dont see how this supports legalization, which is not related to the Gateway theory. He also brings up how drug users have to go through a long process to get drugs when they are illegal. This is actually why we should keep drugs illegal. All those things you have to do to get an illegal drug are great preventative measures, as obviously its much harder to get meth from a trustworthy underground dealer and crime associates then to walk into the nearest Walgreens. 3. I'm aware criminalizing drugs doesn't solve the problem. It does limit it, however, as shown in point 2. Also, you say that "Prohibiting behavior people find "bad" is silly". So then why not legalize rape and murder? Those are "bad" 4. Awareness definitely limits drug use. However, many people still want to use them because they believe the short term high they get from them outweighs the long term health problems. For this reason, jail is necessary to create an additional deterrent to drug use. After all, two deterrants is better than one. 5. His argument seems to be that incarcerating drug users is expensive. However, this is not unique to drug users. It costs a lot of money to incarcerate rapists, abusers, and murderers as well. Doesnt mean we should legalize those respective crimes. Also, I ask my opponent to give an example of a drug user being sentenced to "50,60 year sentences". Finally, he says drug users come out of jail worse than when they went in. Again, I suppose we should release everybody from jail then since its not just drug users who become hardened from prison time. 6. The only argument I see is that drug usage is at a high point. I will argue in my points that drug usage would me much worse if legalized. My arguments. 1. Legalizing drugs will spike drug use dramatically. My opponent advocates selling drugs in stores, just like alcohol. There are a few differences between this and keeping them illegal. Some of these my opponent himself stated. To use drugs now, you have to 1. Be willing to break the law. This alone rules out a lot of people. 2. Know somebody associated with drugs or a drug dealer 3. Know said dealer is trustworthy 4. Buy the drugs without getting caught by the po-lice. 5. Use the drug without getting caught. My opponent sells drugs in your neighborhood Wal-mart. To get drugs in his world, people have to 1. Walk into Wal-Mart 2. But the drug. Thats it. There is no risk involved. Therefore there is no deterrence effect. Without that, there's no logical way you can tell me that World 2 would not have more drug use than World 1. So, with more people turning to drugs for stress relief or fun in light of their legalization, you have so many people getting sick from drugs that it can be destructive to society. This is obvious because drug users o indeed become severely ill quite often. Source 1 explains that over 958,000 illegal drug users required an emergency hospital visit in 2006. Expect this number to double or triple if drugs are made legal. So basically, a vote for legalization equals a vote for adding thousands of people to our yearly death toll from drugs. Point 2: International Law My opponent says in comments that this debate is about legalization in the US and A. The United States is one of 180 nations that have agreed to and ratified the Single Convention on Narcotic Substances Act of 1961 and the Psychotropic Substances Act of 1978. These international treaties mandate that all participating nations criminalize drug use. The Single convention Treaty states, (2), "each Party shall adopt such measures as will ensure that cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, possession, offering, offering for sale, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery, importation and exportation of drugs contrary to the provisions of this Convention, and any other action which in the opinion of such Party may be contrary to the provisions of this Convention, shall be punishable offences when committed intentionally, and that serious offences shall be liable to adequate punishment particularly by imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty" The Psychotropic Substances act reinforces these provisions for drugs discovered after the initial treaty, (3). So, the United States is bound by international law to keep drug related crime illegal. If my opponent still wants to go against this and legalize drugs, he must prove that violating international law is in the best interest of the US. Thank you and I urge a con vote. 1. http://www.nida.nih.gov... 2. http://www.incb.org... (Article 36) 3. http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov...