Medical as well as recreational marijuana should be legal in all US states

Given that this is the last round I would like to make my final points and also comment on the previous points made by my opponent. Section 1: First I would like to ask my opponent why he accepted and entered this debate if he does not find the topic to be "necessarily important"? Of course it is a matter of opinion but I believe everything is when it comes to debating. And that"s why we"re here - to debate and give our opinion on a specific topic. Nevertheless, I have some points to make as well. My opponent"s argument stating that cannabis kills people is indeed true. But what in this world does not include a risk of death? The history of cannabis however is not that it kills people. Everyone knows that it has a history which includes saving people"s lives within the medical field. In fact it still saves lives. A study actually shows that ""in the years following legalization,"states that legalized marijuana had experienced reductions in fatal overdoses and addiction treatment center"admissions relating to opioid abuse." http://www.msnbc.com... https://www.washingtonpost.com... Another study shows us that "marijuana can be used to cope with stressful life events." It shows that marijuana in fact is preventable for suicides and that "in the three years following the passage of medical cannabis legislation, the suicide rate for men in their 20s and 30s dropped by roughly 10 percent."https://www.leafly.com... And yes the drug would definitely be beneficial for medical purposes. Here"s a list of illnesses treatable with medical marijuana: http://www.unitedpatientsgroup.com... My opponent also claims that there is something not making sense, when people claim that marijuana is being legalised for medical purposes, at the same time as the pharmaceutical companies warns against the use of cannabis. I on the other hand find this very logical. Of course the medical companies, and all other companies with an annual income, don"t want to loose their market. It is a known fact that medical companies lobby and spend money on campaigns against competitive medicaments - like cannabis. In this article you can read about the aforementioned. It says that: "Medical cannabis is clearly competition to the pharmaceutical industry." It mentions a case where "Minnesota Governor Dayton Refuses to Legalize Medical Marijuana". So as many other things it is all about the money. http://healthimpactnews.com... In this article "The Top 5 Industries Lobbying Against Cannabis Legalization" are listed. And of course big pharmaceutical companies are amongst them. https://www.leafly.com... Section 2: As for the matter of the taxes I believe the source itself and my opponent use words such as "may", "probably" and "might". This indicates an uncertainty of whether or not this is true and it can therefore very likely also be, that a legalization of cannabis will benefit the economy. Section 3: My opponent seems very sure in this section that a use of marijuana would "damage their IQ, memory, health and mental state." However I haven"t seen research directly claiming that if you through one way or another get cannabis into your body you will suffer from all of the aforementioned. As for the last generation trying to tech the new generation, I do not see how this is an argument. If everything was taught from generation to generation, then we would walk around believing the Earth was still flat, that the Moon and the Sun orbited us and we would still die of the flu. There has to be room for learning new things. Discovering how the real world works is not something you can be learned from a book or a teacher. You have to experience it yourself. But clearly this is a matter of opinion. Section 4: As I have said before, I believe each state should start off legalizing marijuana, but on their own terms. If they want to only allow 5 grams like the Netherlands, fine. If they want to allow their citizens to grow it themselves, then great. Whatever works best for them. It"s a start, it"s new and we must learn from what we do further down the road. But I believe there can be no doubts that the benefits of legalizing marijuana are greater than the downsides. Only 9% of people who tried cannabis become addicts, it can have huge medical advantages and save lives - and if not it can ease the pain of patients suffering from chronic disorders. The picture: I would like to know the story of this man? How much marijuana has he been dealing with? Which type? How often? Because all of these questions are essential. If you eat too much of something, that is not good for your health either and no matter what, he chose it himself. And the matter of marijuana should be up to each individual. We can inform them of the dangers that might occur - but that is all, nobody should decide for them. I would like to end this by saying thank you to my opponent for accepting the debate in the first place, but also to state that the majority of America"s people now agree that cannabis should be legalized for medical purposes. Thank you. http://prospect.org...