Naysayer

When tasked with arguing the point of legalizing marijuana I took the stance against it saying that the negatives out way the positives and would cause much more harm than good. While Devin provided many viable facts I was able to rebutle each fact and create a reason as to why his reasoning was wrong.

Devin began by stating that marijuana holds many medicinal purposes and if legalized could provide help for citizens struggling with chronic migraines or illnesses that other medications cannot help. I then countered by explaining that the vast majority of marijuana would most likely not be used for medicinal uses and would end up being used by teens and young adults to simply get high and feel good. Last time I checked, not feeling as happy as you could be if you were high was not a symptom that any other medicine could cure. After this point was made Devin made the point that if marijuana were to be legalized all over the country than the government could tax the product and make millions of dollars to help support their individual states and it would benefit the country. This point may have seemed valid at first but I rebutled by posing the question of what happens when the government cannot control the substance anymore and the industry spirals out of control? Currently the law suppresses the drug, but if it were to be legalized there would be nothing stopping the country from growing as much weed as they pleased and the nation would quickly find itself overcome with a very large problem. This rebutle led me to my next argument that I presented stating that if the industry were to spiral out of control like it most likely would, people nationwide would begin abusing the drug and showing up to their jobs high and performing tasks high that could prove fatal. His response was to state that marijuana has led to no recorded deaths so far, yet there is nothing to say that there couldn’t be a first time in the future. The final con I could make for the argument was found on a website that stated that marijuana is known to lead to the use of more addictive substances like cocaine or heroin (balancedpolitics.org).

Through the use of my rebutle to the arguments made by Devin the debate was never one sided and there was no definitive winner. There are many good points made on both sides and while marijuana could be legalized and please many people, I leave with the question of what are the effects that such an act could impact on our nation in the future?

Work Cited Joe Messerli “Should Marijuana be Legalized Under Any Circumstances?” BalancedPolitics.org. n.p, 20 April 2010. Web. 24 October 2010.