The US Federal Government should legalize the manufacturing, sale and possession of all drugs.

My opponent opens the debate by arguing with drug related crimes, arguing that "People who use drugs are 16 times more likely to commit theft. They are also 10 times more likely to commit non-aggravated assault. "The Bureau of Justice Statistic Website though lists following data:17% of state prisoners and 18% of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. [1]My opponent argues that legalizing drugs would increase if drugs were legalized. I not only disagree with this point but will also show that the overallcrime rate would decrease following legalization. Since drug-related crimes are committed in order to get money to buy drugs, we can argue that the higher the price of drugs, the bigger the extent of drug-related crimes. Legalizing drugs would allow free production and competition between manufacturers and retailers, and no need to smuggle the drugs across borders, which would reduce the price and arguably the impact of drug related crimes. Furthermore, drug-related crimes make up only a portion of crimes that involve drugs. As is shown by the very same source that my opponent listed, drug-related offonses refer to:"Offenses to which a drug's pharmacologic effects contribute; offenses motivated by the user's need for money to support continued use; and offenses connected to drug distribution itself. "However, there are also drug-defined offenses, which are defined by the same source as "Violations of laws prohibiting or regulating the possession, use, distribution, or manufacture of illegal drugs""According to a study by the U. S. Department of Justice, of the 2.2 million Americans that are currently incarcerated, 21.2 percent of them are non-violent drug offenders"[2] which means that we are currently keeping over 466,000 people in prison for simply possessing, using, distributing or manufacturing drugs. If we were to legalize and control drugs, we wouldn't have almost half a million people in prison for "crimes" that are not violent in nature and do not directly harm other people, which would drastically decrease the overall crime rate. In his next point my opponent cites illegal immigration and argues that it "would rise if drugs became legalized in America". This argument is of course non sensical and my opponent has not brought one single piece of evidence that supports this theory. On the contrary though, if drugs were to be legalized, regulated and taxed, legal entities such as corporation would be able to take over every step from production to distribution and sale. Having legal drugs in the United States would cut the drug cartels off, as people who want to buy them would not have to go to drug dealers but could legally buy them in stores, which would create domestic jobs and further decrease the demand for illegal immigrants. In his last point, my opponent argues with Drugs and Driving. This is again in my opinion a very bad argument, because legalizing drugs would not include legalizing under driving under the influence. Driving while intoxicated would still be illegal and punishable by law. We know that a lot of other things are dangerous while driving, for example being drunk and texting or using a telephone without speaker, which is illegal and punishable by law. Nobody however would argue that banning alcohol and cell phones is the appropriate solution to limit drunk driving and texting and driving. Finally, there is the cost point. Today we are not only spending huge amount of tax money to keep non-violent drug defined offenders in prison, we are also spending billions in the so-called war on drugs, which by the way has not being successful in stopping the afflux of drugs, and losing billions in potential tax revenues that we would be able to raise by taxing legal drug sales. Furthermore, people should have the right to decide for themselves what the want to do with their bodies. It is not the government's business to tell free citizens what they can or cannot smoke, drink or inhale. [1]. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov...[2]http://www.scccampusnews.com...