Marijuana has more medical benefits than coffee.

I'd like to begin by noting that the audience should ignore the ad hominem attacks at the beginning of my opponent's round. Not only are his claims irrelevant, but also unwarranted. Even his example is flawed; the two statements he gave are allegedly contradictory but upon closer examination are not. 1) "In fact, the whole purpose of this thread was for you to prove that misunderstanding holy books IS a problem." 2) "The whole purpose of this thread was for you to point out that many people did not understand Islam." We can see that those 2 statements essentially say the same thing: that my opponent created a thread to discuss the misunderstanding of Islam, as detailed in the holy books - i.e. misunderstanding the holy book (Qur'an) ---> misunderstanding Islam. These 2 sentences are far more synonymous than contradictory. This is a flawed, irrelevant example meant to depict my character and my ability to make an intelligent argument. In other words, it's bad conduct. For some reason when I insult people it's mean-spirited, but when other people insult me it's perfectly acceptable as a 'joke.' Con sadly has to resort to insulting my intelligence and behavior in order to make his argument appear stronger (but so far this attempt is failing miserably). Anyway, now that I've wasted 2,000 characters and 1/5 of the time I have to write defending myself, let's move on to the contentions that are actually pertinent. Con begins by saying that if the harms of something outweigh the benefits, it negates the medical benefits to some degree. If we apply this reasoning to coffee and marijuana, you'll see that this works far more in my favor than Con's. For instance, the only real benefits Con cited and proved are that coffee contains antioxidants and things that fight bacteria. Obviously the harms I detailed and described in the last round far outweigh any of these minor positive effects. In terms of marijuana, I've already explained that the harms of marijuana are easily avoided by not smoking marijuana but rather ingesting it in another form, or smoking it through a vaporizer. In that way, nearly ALL harm from marijuana is eliminated making it essentially harmless, yet the benefits are still there. In that way, we can see that coffee is in fact more harmful. The ONLY harms of marijuana Con has offered thus far are harms from smoking (which I've negated), and short-term memory loss. Of course just as Con points out that problems with caffeine usually result from an overexposure to it, the same exact thing can be said of marijuana. Short term memory loss has only been reported with CHRONIC (no pun intended) use; it's not prevalent in those who don't over-do it [1]. Next, Con says, " In fact, my argument is stronger because my opponent can mention one study proving a good side of marijuana, and I can mention another site/source proving the contrary, so what will make any of our claims more true?" Not only does this not in any way, shape, or form prove that Con's arguments are "stronger," but it effectively negates Con's entire focus of the debate. If he's arguing that medical sources are either irrelevant or non-credible due to contrary medical sources, then he has effectively negated every single one of his contentions in coffee's favor as backed up by scientists. Indeed just as Con listed sources from scientists that said coffee does not cause dehydration or digestive system, I can simply list sources from other doctors saying the exact opposite [2, 3, 4, 5]. There are of course sources disproving nearly everything Con says; does that mean we shouldn't accept his benefits? Ultimately Con did not respond to much of what I said at all in the last round; he simply lists sources of things, and just now I listed sources of more things negating Con's sources. This will seemingly not get us anywhere. To clarify on his final point of R3, just because coffee includes antioxidants, and antioxidants are known to reduce the signs of aging, does not mean that other elements or factors in regard to coffee consumption cannot speed up the aging process. Regardless, in R2 I believe the aging I referred to was more aging of the internal body parts but I digress (and I don't have time time to look back and check because of the stringent time limits). The best I can do at this juncture is explain, in short, why marijuana has more medical benefits than coffee. Both drugs are revered as equally harmful if abused [6] though my opponent has failed to respond to the fact that caffeine is more physically addictive, thus produces a much harsher withdrawal. In that case, only the benefits are relevant, but Con has effectively made it so that none of our sources proving benefits are useful. Considering there is nothing else we have to go on, I'd like to again look at the nature of the benefits in addition to the number of benefits each of us has described. So far Con has given a handful, many of which include benefits that are either (a) minor or (b) nowhere near exclusive to coffee. However marijuana's benefits can help those who have the most dire of health problems either alleviate pain or all-together recover! I've already mentioned that marijuana aids in (1) Alzheimers, (2) arthritis, (3) Chron's disease, (4) epilepsy, (5) glaucoma, (6) cancer, (7) HIV, (8) hepatitis C, (9) migraines, (10) nausea, (11) multiple sclerosis, (12) tourettes, (13) sleeping disorders and a slew of (14) psychological conditions and personality disorders for which there are many. This was all in my opening round meaning I've already listed double of the benefits as my opponent, and going into the last round he cannot give any more considering that would be abusive as I have no opportunity to respond. Of course this is fair considering there are even more things marijuana can help (i.e. anorexia, autism, PTSD, stress, etc.) yet I didn't have the time or space to get into ALL of them, so I digress. Nevertheless, again we can see that the benefits Con described while indeed helpful are not really life saving or compelling. On the other hand, marijuana can literally save lives. In cases where marijuana is needed to induce appetite, without it a patient may starve to death or not get the nutrients they need. From a mental standpoint, one could go crazy from aspects of PTSD yet marijuana can alleviate some of that stress. The impact marijuana has on those who benefit are far greater than the benefits that merely help one's skin look younger (which Con is so proud of). Because Con spent the last round focused solely on harms, I can only look to R2 to re-cap the benefits he's provided. Looking back on notes of helping with depression, Parkinson's and Alzheimers, we see that marijuana has those same positive effects (if not greater). Con points out increased athleticism or mental performance from caffeine, though the same can (and has been proven) regarding pot as it has been scientifically proven that marijuana stimulates alpha-waves in the brain increasing performance in many areas (many related to creativity, etc.). Anyway, I have 1 minute to post this, so that's all I've got. In conclusion, both substances can be harmful if abused, though the effects of marijuana can largely be avoided whereas the harms from coffee can not. Furthermore, if we consider that use in moderation is key, the harms of marijuana greatly diminish even moreso than coffee. And finally, most presented benefits of caffeine Con gave us are also benefits of marijuana. The positive impact of marijuana is greater in value and necessity to helping one's ailments than coffee. Coffee may keep people healthy, but marijuana provides some serious solutions to many medical issues. [1] http://tinyurl.com... [2] http://tinyurl.com... [3] http://tinyurl.com... [4] http://tinyurl.com... [5] http://tinyurl.com... [6] http://tinyurl.com...