The Legalization of Marijuana

My claim is unsubstantiated huh? It seems a lot of economists disagree: http://www.collegian.psu.edu... http://economics.about.com... In that last link, it says over 500 economists think that legalizing marijuana would help the economy and are pro legalization. "Their are plenty of people who don't do it though because it is illegal. If we legalize marijuana more people would want to do it, since it would be legal. It would turn into people being high all the time and not caring. Keeping marijuana illegal is not going to stop the people who already do marijuana from continuing to do it, it will just stop more people from starting."- Maybe some don't do it because it is illegal, but after it being illegal for so long and having so much bad media shoved in their faces about the drug, do you really think they will just start in on it right away? You don't think people like you who think it is so awful and the bad media it gets won't still influence a lot of people? I think that the people who want to do it are doing it now, and the ones that don't want to still won't want to. But, legalizing it would make it safer for those that do it and help in many other ways. The whole hype about that it makes people just sit around and do pot all day is completely false. I know so many people that smoke weed on a regular basis and not one of them is like that. One of them is a musical prodigy, a lot of others are great at sports, others are top students, and they all maintain jobs and their school work. There are a small minority that act the way you are afraid of. In all the places I have been around the world, I have met a lot of pot smokers and never met one like that. I think that that stereotype was made up by the media to get kids not to smoke weed since lot of that media is backed by tobacco companies. "I know we won't agree on the topic of side effects, but it is an important topic. Not everyone knows all the side effects of marijuana. They may be mild compared to other drugs, but they also may be more severe compared to other drugs. Either way they are negative responses to the use of the drug."- Sure, but all drugs, including legal ones have negative side effects. If people do not know the side effects, that is their fault for not being responsible abut using the drug. Also, if they have bad side effects that they weren't expecting, they probably won't do the drug again. Those who know the side effects and still want to use it should be allowed to as they are allowed to use many other drugs. "but we should be cracking done on stopping it."- The illegality of the drug is what makes it the most dangerous. It leads to theft, shady dealing, dealers lacing the drug, and other bad effects. These would all be reduced and easily prevented with its legalization because it would have to be regulated, pass health inspections, and other such safety measures. "This is just one source. There are other sources that say otherwise that go in both directions. It is neither proving or disproving the claim. So we can't lean toward either direction. It is just unknown according to this source."- Other sources have shown that it irritates the lungs. I have never seen a source saying it does more than that. The fact that there are so many studies done, and none of them can find and long-lasting huge effects is very telling for me. Unlike so many other drugs and foods such as tobacco where they can clearly see huge negative effects, they cannot find anything serious for marijuana. This is not because they are incompetent. This is either because we don't know how to find the relation between the drug and negative effects, or because there aren't any. Until we can prove the former, I will believe the latter. "These are all negative outcomes of the drug. Marijuana causes a lot of problems that many people do not know about. Keeping the drug illegal will keep others away from these negative outcomes."- Actually I think legalizing and educating about the possible side effects would reduce the number of users. They are no educated on the side effects as much because it is illegal and they are expected not to use it. Let us also remember that the side effects listed do not always appear. The drug effects everyone differently. They also did not say how common these side effects were which is important. Certain drugs can lead to death in certain situations but it is likely a very rare side effect. As for the pregnancy side effects, I think that is a matter of being responsible. Women know not to take drugs when they are on their period like alcohol and smoking, so why would you think it is ok to take a different one? That is the stupidity of the woman and not the fault of the drug. "My opponent also left out that..."Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person's existing problems worse. In one study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement, including physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, social life, and career status.9 Several studies associate workers' marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers' compensation claims, and job turnover." Marijuana effects the way a person behaves. This just shows some outcomes that can come if the use of marijuana is part of ones life."- I would like to borrow your argument and say "this is just one study". I think this is also a responsibility issue. You have to do things in moderation. If you do too much of anything it will impair your life. People binge drink and it is bad for them, but just because those people cannot handle themselves doesn't mean we should make the drug illegal. Heavy smokers ruin their lives and die sometimes but that is still legal. In regards to my opponents last statements, I think that I have shown that there are good effects of marijuana being legal, and I will give another source showing some. Like everything else, there are pros and cons, especially with drugs. In this case however, I think the pros outweigh the cons. http://marijuanatoday.com...