Marijuana should be legalized

1. Marijuana is a gatewayEven IF it is not the first pick doesn't mean it is still not a gateway. 2. Marijuana has bad health effectsYes, drunk driving and texting while drive are issues, but that does not get away from the point that accidents will increase because of impairment caused by marijuana. I though I have proved there are many negative health effects that have been identified and well known, so to claim that there is a lack of information is simply incorrect. Fast food can be really bad for you, but it is food and you are not smoking it. You must have food to live but you don't have to smoke, so any comparison is really thin. It is true that fast food and marijuana don't have the same effect, which is more reason why it isn't a good comparison.3. Use of Marijuana is ImmoralIt is not extremism; it is called reductio ad absurdum. That is the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating that its logical conclusion is absurd. [1] Your argument was this X should be legal because it does not harm anyone else. I just simply filled in options that would also be true under the same argument. It is the logical conclusion of that argument. You must assume that all those acts are consensual or there would be harm, but if two consenting parties agree to cannibalism/dualing would that be immoral? As you said "It is our freedom to choose for ourselves.""Because people have such drastically different views on what is wrong and right it should be left up to the individual." Again your argument is people have different moral opinions regarding X; therefore, the individual should choose to do it or not. Well what if my morality allowed abortion, human sacrifice, or stealing? Pertaining to the butterfly effect, it can be see as true like this. Way back in 1941 Hitler made the single choice to invade the USSR. As a result he lost the war and we have the world like it today, but if He chooses to make the opposite design our world would be very far away from the one we have. However at the time the decision was made it didn't make that much of a difference. You can think of today too. If we have the cure for cancer tomorrow we will start to cure people but overall not much has changed, but in 50 years there is now more people living than would have and is significantly different than a world without the cure.4. Legalization would increase the number of children having access to itCapone did deal with alcohol bootlegging, but most of his power came from the casinos that the mob operated. [2] There is indeed a reason prohibition was lifted, and it was lack of enforcement "Undercover police officers were trying to do their jobs, but the available manpower was still tiny in comparison with the thriving industry. Even when arrests were made, corruption made it nearly impossible to convict anyone. For example, during one time period more than 7,000 arrests were made in New York for alcohol violations, and only 17 of those ended in conviction. Many states eventually grew tired of the hassle. In fact, by 1925 six states had developed laws that kept police from investigating infractions. Cities in the Midwest and Northeast were particularly uninterested in enforcing Prohibition " [3] As far as never be tried again, there are numerous counties that are dry. "Nearly half of Mississippi's counties are dry. Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas and Virginia also have a large proportion of dry counties. Kentucky isn't much better for alcohol lovers. Thirty counties are wet and 55 are bone-dry." [4]As far as crime dropping, there are less people committing criminal acts. An example is there is 10 people 1 person is a marijuana user (criminal) and 2 people are other criminals. This means there is 30% crime rate, but if you legalize marijuana then the crime rate drops to 20%. Nothing changed besides how you classified that person.5. Drug related arrest benefit societyA billion dollars sounds like a lot but it isn't. Also Excise taxes are not good for raising revenue. In 2012 the tobacco tax, the most revenue raising excise tax, raised about 17 billion dollars [5] and the federal budget was 3.5 Trillion [2], so that tax is about 0.5% of the federal budget. As I have shown legalization would increase crime, and has a mass of bad health effects. Increased crime and increased health issues will only hurt the economy. As for my 12 source, it is on page 6. I agree rehabilitation would be better, and that is what we should focus on.6. Legalization of marijuana will lead to the legalization of other drugsMany arguments made for the legalization of marijuana can be used to argue the legalization of harder drugs like heroin. As an example, many say marijuana should be legal because it is less harmful than alcohol; however, so are many other drugs including crack, meth, and heroin. [6] Also, saying things like "it is my choice" which could be said about any drug.Sources[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com... [2] http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu...[3] http://history.howstuffworks.com...[4] http://history.howstuffworks.com...[5] http://www.whitehouse.gov...[6] http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org...P.S. I would do a euthanasia debate.