Legalize Marijuana.

I haven't seen this done on debate.org yet, so I thought it would be interesting to hear some opinions on the issue. This debate will probably have many different types of arguments (legal, health, and economic), so I'm going to start Round 1 off with a whole mess of arguments in favor for the legalization of marijuana and we'll see where it goes from there =). The first and most basic reason why I think marijuana should be legalized is because it's a matter of basic autonomy! From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. This does not apply to marijuana, since the individual who chooses to use marijuana does so according to his or her own free will. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not logically apply to marijuana because marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco (I'll cover this claim in the 'health' parts of my argument). I also think it makes economic sense to legalize the plant because it would save both the federal and state government and enormous amount of money and reduce governmental beurocracy like the DEA. In the United States, all levels of government (even local authorities!) participate in the "War on Drugs." We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to get high. These people get locked up in prison and the taxpayers have to foot the bill. We have to pay for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses. This adds up! We could save billions of dollars every year as a nation if we stop wasting money locking people up for having marijuana. Keep in mind, that if marijuana were legal, the government would be able to collect taxes on it, and would have a lot more money to pay for effective drug education programs and other important causes. Because lets not forget that marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco all have health risks associated (for that matter so does eating a Big Mac!) to them and a responsible government is suppose to educate and inform it's citizen not to enact a prohibition! This leads into my historical argument against a prohibition policy towards marijuana, it simply doesn't work! We tried prohibition with alcohol, and that failed miserably. There is no good evidence that prohibition decreases drug use, and there are several theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use (i.e. the "forbidden fruit" effect, and easier accessibility for youth). One unintended effect of marijuana prohibition is that marijuana is very popular in American high schools. Why? Because it is available. You don't have to be 21 to buy marijuana -- marijuana dealers usually don't care how old you are as long as you have money. It is actually easier for many high school students to obtain marijuana than it is for them to obtain alcohol, because alcohol is legal and therefore regulated to keep it away from kids. If our goal is to reduce drug consumption, then we should focus on open and honest programs to educate youth, regulation to keep drugs away from kids, and treatment programs for people with drug problems. But the current prohibition scheme does not allow such reasonable approaches to marijuana. Instead we are stuck with 'DARE' police officers spreading lies about drugs in schools, and policies that result in jail time rather than treatment for people with drug problems. Finally, there is the health component to my argument. Keep in mind that if I can prove that marijuana is safer then its legalized counterparts (alcohol and tobacco) then I have effectively undermined any health arguments to condemn its legalization. Let me begin by saying, Marijuana only poses health risks to people who choose to use it. As is the case with other potentially harmful substances, such as unhealthy foods, individuals should be able to weigh the risks for themselves. Cholesterol claims exponentially more lives then marijuana, should we make bacon illegal? The health risks associated with Marijuana are often misunderstood or exaggerated. The best recent scientific research shows that marijuana is much less harmful than prohobitionists say it is. The truth is that marijuana's health effects are complex and cannot be simply labelled good or bad. Here are some recent studies rejecting some of the standard health arguments against the plant: Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn't Damage Brain (from WebMD, July 2003). A recent survey of research found that long term marijuana use did not have a significant effect on cognitive abilities. The report was published in the July 2003 Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection (from Washington Post, May 2006). A recent study of the effects of long-term marijuana use found that "smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer." This study, the largest of its kind, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The same study found that heavy tobacco use greatly increased the chance of lung cancer. Finally, I believe that marijuana does have medicinal merit. There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence, as well as some scientific research, indicating that marijuana can be effective as a treatment for some illnesses. Benefits of marijuana can include appetite stimulation for cancer and AIDS patients, and general pain relief. I sort of took a shotgun approach for this first round, but it should be an interesting debate either way =). -connor American Kill Count: Tobacco - 10 million (http://www.costkids.org...) Alcohol - 17,800 per year in alcohol related car accidents. (http://www.drug-rehabs.org...) Marijuana - 0