marijuana legalization

It is unfortunate that my opponent is deciding to quit on an issue he cares about. It is also unfortunate that his arguments are filled with logical fallacies, unsourced information, and avoids addressing the first two reasons why marijuana shouldn't be legal. I will list all my reasons and see if he will respond to these 1. Gateway Drug According to a study by the Yale University School of Medicine marijuana is linked with an increased likelihood of prescription drug abuse. [4] The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also have written that "Among lifetime marijuana users reporting their onset after age 20, an estimated 1.1 percent used heroin, 16.4 percent used cocaine, and 20.6 percent used any psychotherapeutics nonmedically in their lifetime. Among persons who had never used marijuana, less than 1 percent had ever used cocaine or heroin, but 5.1 percent had used psychotherapeutics nonmedically." [5] As shown by well respected sources that marijuana is a gateway drug, it should continue to be illegal. 2. Health effects Some of the short term effects include distorted perception, loss of coordination, trouble with thinking and problem-solving, and increased heart rate. [1] Some of these effects like distorted perception, and loss of coordination will lead to increased accidents harming more citizens. Also, there would be second hand smoke that would further harm others who don't smoke marijuana. The government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning it no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. [2] The government also protects its citizens with immunization mandates, fluoridation of water, iodization of salt, pollution restrictions, and banning of hard drugs. In conclusion, with no accepted medical benefit and many health problems it should continue to be illegal. 3. Morally wrong Under the two major schools of ethics, Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics, both consider it immoral. Utilitarianism is "The ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people." [5] Kant uses what he called the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative is "In the ethical system of Immanuel Kant, an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent of any personal motive or desire." [6] In Kantian ethics you must think if everyone had to do this action all the time. Smoking of marijuana would impair normal functioning and every had to smoke marijuana then the world would be a world in which no one would want to live; therefore, it is immoral and should not be legalized. In fact there is almost no ethical system in which smoking marijuana is morally good/acceptable. 4. Legalization would increase the number of children having access to it Developing brains and bodies can be dealt serious blows by the use of marijuana. Anytime you make something legal, you increase the accessibility to children. All too often kids and teenagers get their hands on alcohol or cigarettes. We shouldn't let the same thing happen with marijuana. How many kids can get access to cigarette or alcohol, a lot more than can get access to marijuana. So, legalization would only give kids more access to it not less. 5. Drug related arrest benefit society Someone who illegally buys/sell/uses marijuana has already established themselves as someone who does not follow the law, and could lead to more crimes in the future; however, if they are in jail on drug charges they cannot commit more crimes. Also, they would get a lighter sentence than others crimes, and we can focus on rehabilitation on why they turned to drugs instead waiting for them to do more crimes. By addressing the source of the problems we can make a better society or we could legalize marijuana and pretend the problems don't exist. 6. Legalization of marijuana will lead to the legalization of other drugs As shown in previous arguments they can be changed just slightly to support legalization of harder drugs such as heroin, so unless you believe hard drugs should be legalized too then we should not start the pattern of legalizing drugs. Sources: [1] http://www.ctpost.com... [2] http://www.samhsa.gov... [3] http://alcoholism.about.com... [4] http://www.justice.gov... [5] http://www.thefreedictionary.com... [6] http://www.thefreedictionary.com...