Legalizing Cocaine

R1: addictivness Still an issue, caffeine does not hurt you as much. Couple this with my effects argument. Then I win the points here. From your source; Cocaine is extremely addictive as users use higher dosages to create the same high. (1) Also a alcohol cocaine mix means nothing. You would be addicted to both. I would get addicted to crack and alcohol, but they are seperate addictions. Also: Cocain is a highly addictive drug and users cannot predict how addicted they will be. (2) Also cocaine is the most abused drug in the US. (3) (most drug with addicted people). Cocain is addicting because of the way it affects the mesolimbic pathways. (4) (5) Once again addictivness to this is worse than all of what you mentioned. R2: lethality of cocaine Yes, It has similar effects. But does caffeine melt the flesh? Crack can! (7) (8) also I see no proof that caffeine causes major aggression, depression, losses sense of smell, loss of feeling, etc. if you read my arguments they are worse then cocaine. Also: "It's not clear whether cocaine kills brain cells or merely impairs them, or whether the effect is reversible, said study author Dr. Karley Little. But it's bad news for cocaine addicts in any case, he said." (9) It impairs brain cells, another defect. Caffeine does not do this. Also it can affect the shape of the nose. (10) R3: medical usage Because it is diluted. Also it is used in dental patients and is only applied to small areas. (11) They soak it in material. Also they spray it on(11). Applied by professionals. It is used in a safe dosage , area, dilution. Almost anything is harmless in small amounts . So you forgot to add the part where they take multiple precautions to make sure it's safe, unlike recreational usage where you can easily become addicted and overdose and totally screw yourself up. So you forgot to add that part. The doctors do if safely, diluted, small dosage, and it is only sprayed on there. It is only good as it is done under precaution, inline recreational use where you run the risk of death. Point debunked. R4: Cocaine usage Statistics from 1970? Really? "And cocaine usage dropped from 2.4 million users to just 1.6 million over the same time period" (12) "Statistics from Quest Diagnostics, the world's largest provider of diagnostic tests, show that fewer U.S. workers used cocaine or methamphetamines in 2008 than in 2007" (13) Usage of cocaine has dropped 18%. (14) So actually usage is dropping. Please explain how they where arrested mattered? Also even on a doctor give basis users would rise: "The British have also had their own failed experiments with liberalizing drug laws. England's experience shows that use and addiction increase with "harm reduction" policy. Great Britain allowed doctors to prescribe heroin to addicts, resulting in an explosion of heroin use, and by the mid-1980s, known addiction rates were increasing by about 30 percent a year." (15) Illegalization has worked, allowing it would raise users, plus there are terrible effects of cocaine and is highly addictive. Vote Con. http://m.randomhistory.com... (1) http://alcoholism.about.com... (2) http://www.emedicinehealth.com... (3) http://en.m.wikipedia.org... (4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... (6) http://www.thevettebarn.com... (7) http://www.dailymail.co.uk... (8) http://www.cbsnews.com... (9) http://www.cocaine-addiction.co.uk... (10) http://www.medicinenet.com... (11) http://www.mainstreet.com... (12) http://www.elementsbehavioralhealth.com... (13) http://www.samhsa.gov... (14) http://www.justice.gov... (15)