Marijuana should have similar legal restrictions to alcohol (or less legal restrictions).

My youthful opponent has made 3 distinct points in his opening post, which I will briefly address before making some arguments of my own. ___________ 1. "Marijuana has much worse effects on the brain especially at a young age. " It is difficult to respond to this point without any kind of evidence to refer to, I suggest my opponent provides some kind of source to back up his claims about the effects of these two drugs on the brain. Alcohol has severe effects on the brain, for a full list see: . http://www.bloodalcohol.info... ---- Most of the concern about the effects of marijuana on the brain are more mundane issues like short-term memory loss, or the myths of 'cannabis psychosis' and 'reefer madness'. I've never heard that marijuana is worse for young people than it is for adults but I have heard this said about alcohol: "research has shown that compared with the adult brain, the adolescent brain is particularly sensitive to some effects of alcohol" . http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov.... __________________ 2. "Both marijuana and alcohol have an addictive quality. " If this "addictive quality" were an equally shared characteristic of both substances, as my opponent seems to be suggesting, then this point would be entirely irrelevant to a comparison between the two. In actual fact marijuana is far less addictive than alcohol. See the table on "problem substances" in this link for a comparison of the addictive nature of different drugs. . http://www.io.com... Marijuana is generally recognised as not addictive in a physical sense and only addictive psychologically, in the same way as gambling or promiscuity can be for some people. . http://www.fcda.org... . http://en.wikipedia.org... There is not even a well recognised scientific term for cannabis addiction, whereas alcoholism is the first example of addiction on the wiki entry. _______________________ 3. "marijuana affects more organs. " The number of different organs potentially affected by a substance is not a reflection on how harmful the substance can be to the organs it does affect. Again my opponent provides no supporting evidence for his assertions. "Alcohol affects the brain specifically the cerebellum and the brain stem, Marijuana however affects the cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, lungs and heart. " The cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem are all of course different parts of one organ, the brain. The source I provided above (under point 1) shows how alcohol affects many more different parts of the brain too. Marijuana only affects the lungs and heart when it is smoked. There are other ways to consume it that do not have these negative effects. -------------------- Some arguments of my own: ________________________ 1. Alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. The health effects and the links with violent behaviour and (especially) automobile accidents make a compelling case that the dangers of marijuana (which I admit exist, although I believe my opponent exaggerates them) pale into insignificance compared to the dangers of alcohol. "Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortaility in the United States" . http://boreal.com... "There can be both short-term and long-term consequences, even with moderate levels of drinking. " . http://www.sciencenetlinks.com... "This factsheets [sic] shows how alcohol contributes to accidents" . http://www.ias.org.uk... "Some of Britain's leading drug experts . .. .. By their analysis, alcohol and tobacco are rated as more dangerous than cannabis, LSD and ecstasy. " . http://www.guardian.co.uk... And lastly on violent behaviour the following scientific studies prove the indisputable link: . http://www.bio-medicine.org... . http://www.sciencedirect.com... . http://www.aic.gov.au... ____________________________ 2. De-criminalisation does not lead to increased use. Many people believe that a loosening of restrictions on marijuana would increase usage but the evidence contradicts this. "There was no immediate increase in cannabis use after 1976" . http://www.tc.columbia.edu... "UN Drug Office Can't Explain Lower Marijuana Use in Holland" . http://digg.com... "Dutch Marijuana Use Half That Of America" . http://norml.org... "statistics show a substantial decline in cannabis use in the Netherlands since statutory decriminalization in 1976" . http://www.sciencedirect.com... It seems that an anti-marijuana campaigner should actually be demanding legalisation as this seems to actually discourage use. _________________________ 3. Marijuana is safer than alcohol. This page from the campaign group SAFER compiles some excellent scientific references on the subject: . http://www.safercampuses.org... This breaks down several risk factors. ----- . http://news.bbc.co.uk... This is an excellent article that presents a balanced point of view but although it finds doctors and scientists to support marijuana it can only find laymen to disparage it. ---- The video posted in the top right hand corner of this argument shows a presidential candidate telling a group of students that marijuana is safer than alcohol. . http://www.youtube.com... __________________ Alcohol is more harmful to an indivdual's physical and mental health than marijuana and the violent behaviour and automobile accidents that it can trigger are more harmful to society. I await my opponent's response. Pro.