Using, selling, growing, or possesing marijuana should be legal

Thank you for your argument. Here‘s my response: #1) Using“Using marijuana can increase your risks of getting cancer. While research is still being done as to what the exact effects marijuana can have on the body current research suggests that marijuana has similar effects of tobacco. Tobacco leads to lung cancer. Why would you want to increase your chances of getting lung cancer?”Yes, but tobacco is legal. We also know that eating too much junk food is bad for you. But we can still do it. And that is a good thing. Why?Because everyone has the right to live his life the way he wants to, as long as he doesn’t damage or endanger others. If everyone lived in a perfect way, and didn’t do anything stupid, we wouldn’t need liberty. But liberty is there for those who would like to do things differently, and even do things that are bad for you.So, is marijuana bad for you? Well, at some points. It is not that addictive, only to a small group of people, and if you don’t use it heavily, you won’t get addicted. It is also known that it is virtually impossible to die from a marijuana overdose (of course, theoretically it is, because everything is technically poisonous). You can die from an overdose of alcohol, tobacco, and sugar. It also doesn’t make you violent, like alcohol. It doesn’t make you fat, like junk food. And in some cases, it is even used as a medicine! So yes, I would agree that it is bad for you, but, it isn’t worse than alcohol, which is legal. http://brown.edu...;http://www.bbc.co.uk...“Also, many are aware of the fact that marijuana is a "Gateway" drug which can lead to the use of many other much more addictive drugs such as Crack/ Cocaine, Heroine , etc. No bueno.”False, there has not been such research. The only thing we know is that there is a correlation between the use of marijuana and the later use of other more harmful drugs. But, correlation does not imply causation. For example, we know that all murderers have drunk water before committing there crime. Does this mean that water is a gateway to murdering? #2) Growing“So as crazy as it sounds growing marijuana is actually bad for the environment. You learn something knew every day right? It has something to do with the fact that its grown inside according to this article "the nation's indoor marijuana crop has the same annual carbon footprint as 3 million cars." Ew....The article goes on to explain how this might push the government to legalize pot so it can be grown outside however that would probably just increase crime rate (people would probably start trespassing into people's backyards in attempt to get free pot.)” We should allow growing marijuana outside, and it won’t be that bad for the environment. And if you legalize marijuana, crime rates will actually drop. A lot of people go to jail only for using, growing, or selling pot. Which isn’t morally wrong. And the trespassing problem won’t even be that big. Because, like in Holland or Spain, people who would like to use the stuff will just grow it in their own garden. This will be possible, because prices will drop. This is because all the costs of avoiding the police, which are high as your article just showed, are eventually paid by the consumer. #3) Selling“So, I know this argument isn't supposed to go into too much detail in terms of constitutions and stuff but in most States its still illegal to sell pot so why even risk it ? Ask yourself this question: do you really wanted to be arrested?Here are some other questions to ask yourself about selling and you'll soon find that it simply ain't worth it.”You wouldn’t be arrested if selling was legal. So this argument is invalid (since the debate is about whether it should be legalized)"Also, going back to pot being the "gateway drug" its sort of the same for selling. Start selling weed first and it can lead to selling other drugs which leads to addiction/ getting you into WAY more trouble.”You know what happens when selling is legalized? It will be sold by the shops. And do you really think these shops will risk having to close their shops? #4) Possessing“So, its kind of hard to get into this one without bringing up the constitution. Since weed is still illegal in many places it does create a reason to arrest someone. Violent acts of resistance have been linked to people who posses pot.”That’s why you should legalize it. You will not have the problem of violent arrests if you don’t have to arrest them. Life can be so easy, right?# The ethical problemGrowing a plant itself is not immoral, possessing it isn’t either. Using something bad to yourself is your own personal choice. People can only be free and be their selves if they are allowed to live there just the way they want to (however, if this prevents others from living theirs, there should be restrictions). And because marijuana isn’t really that harmful, selling also is not wrong. So how can it be ethically acceptable to punish someone for it?