Drug Legalization

"The point is some people cannot make wise decisions. Everyone is not capable of making decisions. Grown men and women are unable to make smart choices. (This can result in the taking of children, licenses, permits, rights ((For example, to vote)), and prison((Federal or non-Federal)) and/or Jail.)" If people are not allowed to make their own choices regarding their own bodies, then you strip them of their ownership of themselves. Grown men and women have enough mental capacity to make their own choices (unless they are mentally ill, but that is another issue all together). Are you advocating to keep people on strict diets because there are tons of foods that make them fat and cause health risks (not everyone knows what to eat)? Should establishments like McDonalds be illegal? Someone else having ownership of your body and dictating what you do with it is slavery. All you can do is give adults advice, keep them informed, and hope they make the best decisions for themselves. We have seen from prohibition that people will continue to use even when restricted. People always find a way to obtain what they want. "This is true, but it is nearly impossible for the information to reach everyone. It would take years to get the message across to the entire world." My opponent concedes to my point. The information could be attached to the product (like it is on alcohol and cigarettes). The government will also be saving money from ending the war on drugs, and can use money gained from that for educational purposes (children are already educated about drugs - cigarettes and alcohol in schools). "Any drug, legal or illegal, that you consume can impact on your unborn child. If you swallow a drug, your body will deliver it to the baby through the placenta. If you inject a substance, it goes to the baby in larger amounts. Inhaling a drug has almost the same results." This doesn't matter. Women are already allowed to eat such things as raw fish, consume alcohol, and tobacco while pregnant. Restricting them from doing so would be impossible. Again, as I stated in round one, you can not stop a person who wants to consume a drug/alcohol [whatever it may be] from doing so. The best course of action is to educate them on the substance and offer safe products and environments for use of the substance. Example: Places like Insight in Vancouver, Canada offer a safe environment for heroin addicts to inject. They offer sterile needles (water, any other items the addict may need), medical assistance, safe environment, a detox center if the addict wishes for help, free therapy if the addict wishes for it, etc. Because of havens like Insight, Vancouver has seen a dramatic drop in cases of aids and death from overdose. Out of all of the cases of overdose that happened inside of Insight, none have resulted in death because of on site medical assistance (the addict would have died if injecting on the street). The establishment has helped clean up the streets of Vancouver and helped contain the heroin epidemic. Insight does not sell drugs, it only offers the above services. Even with laws forbidding drugs, users will find a way to obtain them and use them, so, again, the best option a country has is to educate and provide safety. With campaigns such as the war on drugs failing miserably (anyone can find a gram of marijuana if they know where to look), and drugs in the category of psychedelics causing zero harm and death in users, it's a surprise that the government has not changed their stance on drugs. Drugs that do cause physical harm (like meth, heroin, cocaine [narcotic]) should be made safer and should come with opportunities for the addict to recover (like Insight offers). Legalizing drugs and offering safe environments and safe products will also help lower crime just like over turning prohibition did (no more drug wars, no more drug trafficking). Good luck to my opponent in her last round. Sources: http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca...