Debate: Should Marijuana be legalized?
Side: Absolutely not!

People cannot sell themselves into slavery, people cannot give other people permission to murder them, people cannot give up their inalienable constitutional rights to due process...etc..etc. People don't have the right to take away their rights and freedoms; if someone is mutilating their body, attempting suicide, or engaging in obviously harmful activities our laws clearly indicate we have the right to detain and provide psychological treatment to them. Noone left me in charge, I have an opinion. We are all imposing our beliefs about what is best for ourselves and each other when engaging in democratic activity so I don't see the problem with my objections to and sanctions of narcotics. The difference between escaping through activity and escaping through chemical alteration is the difference between exercise and steroid injections. It is the difference between increasing your height through a proper diet while still in your development stages and breaking your legs and resetting them repeatedly. Not only is the activity unnecessary, a cop-out, and usually not even a remedy for a real malady, but it is an extreme approach and ultimately detrimental to the person's body, mind, and their professional life. What I am saying is that in the case of drugs people are willfully giving up their freedoms; I would like to have it given back. Besides, if they are already giving up their freedom and humanity for a little pleasure, why on earth should they have the rights in the first place? Would you give a teenager a car if they decided to wreck it, on purpose, every time just to experience the thrill? People shouldn't be allowed to choose to be slaves just as much as people aren't allowed to be slave-owners. I find it frightening that people seem to actively look to be controlled, by addiction or dictators, and I don't want such behavior to go unchecked. Video games are an absence of the use of freedom, chemical alterations remove them or block them. Chemicals destroy personality and individuality, pass-times merely divert them and slow their growth or actualization. Again, Marijuana isn't a big deal in this respect; but legalizing it certainly doesn't help. It does dull the senses, it does have long-term psychological and intellectual effects, and it is possibly as if not more carcinogenic than Tobacco and just as addictive (not yet completely substantiated so I could be wrong).Some basic facts on it can be found here; a rather well-rounded survey of Marijuana and its effects:http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html From the site:"Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit.""A number of studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia."Now, that, again, is not known to be 100% true. Marijuana research is still in its developing stages (probably due to its illegality) and so not enough is known to say anything with certainty. I'd like to see more studies to make sure that it is as benign as many people like to think it is. If it turns out to be then I have even less of a problem with it. The hard drugs, however, should always be illegal in my eyes.