If you were to walk down a random street and come up to an average Joe and ask him what he thought of Marijuana, predictably that man would most likely state the obvious. The likes of “Marijuana is bad. Marijuana is a curse upon our people and generations to come. Marijuana is blasphemy, praise Jesus!” Then, if you were to ask him whether or not benefits of Marijuana existed, that man would still most likely answer “No”. This, is the apparent flawed paradigms flocking the minds of the majority of men and women all across the globe. Blindly looking past the existence of positive traits buried beneath a less attractive exterior. The statistics has proven for a fact that men like the average Joe mentioned above has numerous friends of similar, moreover same views, 59% of the total world population, to be precise. We as the proposition who oppose the banning of Marijuana see this issue with a different light. We acknowledge the benefits of the use of Marijuana which the majority rarely looks in to. We also look upon the point of rights, where the society has rights over their body, and how in this case these individual rights do not need to be compromised by the government, especially when it comes to interference of personal interests, like that of earthly pleasures. We strongly believe and will prove that with the legalization of Marijuana, a prosperous balance between the rights of society and the role of government will occur. By diminishing the ban, this would allow the government to regulate. By regulating, research & development would take place to find better knowledge of marijuana’s beneficial properties, and in the end of the day create a safer environment, where all rights and roles are honored.

Rallying up from our basic set up, we as the affirmative will bring you 3 major points of arguments. First and foremost, on how we believe that personal interests like the use of Marijuana should not, and does not need to be compromised by the government, similar to the case of smoking. Which links to our second point, on how Marijuana has medical benefits that common men & women aren’t yet aware of; and how it is actually the government’s role to maximize them. Lastly, we will wrap up our opening case with the point on governmental regulation, and how by legalizing, many doors will be opened for research and development to suppress side effects, and to maximize benefits of Marijuana itself.

For our fundamental substantive, let’s first talk about smoking. I invite you all to think of the possibly horrid effects coming from enjoying a puff of carbon dioxide. I would be surprised if you said they didn’t exist, or if you said it doesn’t bring negative side effects. Smoking’s bad side effects are smack dabbed on every cigarette box for crying out loud. But then one would think, if that’s the case why wouldn’t the government ban smoking from the face of the nation when most people are well aware of the possible illnesses it might bring -including the government themselves? To answer that, we present to you, the rights of society over individuality and their bodily autonomy. By this, the government cannot actually strip smokers from their rights to inhale cigarette fumes, because these people have their rights to an informed decision. Informed, in this case, is where they all are fully aware of all that comes with smoking. How? With all the “smoking may cause …etc”s on cigarette boxes all over the world, who wouldn’t? Now, in this situation, what the government should and does do is to merely limit these rights. Why limit? In order to protect the rights of non-smokers who don’t want to come in contact with airborne intoxication, so that in the end there wouldn’t be rights of 2 different halves of society colliding. How does the government do this? By putting a ban on smoking, exclusively to public places. So, we can see here, that as the government side of the house, we apply simple logic and experience from past governmental doings to support our point on how the government’s duty is not to strip rights of the people, but actually to regulate and help create a safer environment, where in the end, the overlapping of rights would not occur. Because as of the current status quo, Marijuana is professionally categorized as a victimless crime, which further supports how society would not need their rights to be compromised, when all they are doing does not conflict with the greater good.
If you are still yet to be convinced, I invite you to think about motorbikes, cars, and all other forms of transportation. Did you know that for a fact, traffic accidents are the number 1 non-disease death causes? But that doesn’t mean the government would need to ban traffic altogether (and thank God they haven’t). What the government is doing is regulating and keeping traffic a more convenient environment. How? By let’s say, adding more police forces in free-ways. Another, by setting a speed limit, and lastly by making helmets for motorbikes compulsory. The government isn’t about to ban motorbikes and transportations alike, because transportation is a necessity. Which correlates with marijuana, and how in our upcoming second point, we will show you how Marijuana is becoming more and more needed; and with its under-developed properties, in time we believe that in fact Marijuana will become a necessity in the ever-inflating pharmaceutical world. So to end our basic argument on the rights over bodily autonomy and how it correlates with the government’s role, we conclude that the government’s duty is not to strip people their rights to personal and informed decisions, but rather to create an environment where both the rights of the people to have bodily freedom are respected, yet also still to keep the government pro-active in keeping health risks at bay. Yey :D
Linking to our earlier point concerning the government’s role to actually create a safer environment of Marijuana use, we bring to you its beneficial properties. Unlike what Mr. Average Joe knows, we have in our pockets facts regarding Marijuana as a potential necessity in the medical world. But first, let’s talk about what society knows as of this moment. Now, we can actually show you that Marijuana is not as harmful as people say they are. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that the use of Marijuana will necessarily lead users onto more dangerous narcotic substances. Not only that, but there has been no significant premise that proves smoking marijuana as a means of taking it represents a significant health risk.
Although Marijuana has been smoked widely in Western countries for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana; and to put matters into perspective, we strongly suspect that a day's breathing in any city with poor air quality poses more of a threat than inhaling a day's dose of Marijuana. Even for some users, perhaps as many as 10%, Marijuana leads to psychological dependence, but again, there is scant evidence that it carries a risk of true addiction. Unlike cigarette smokers, most users do not take the drug on a daily basis, and usually abandon it in their twenties or thirties. Unlike for nicotine, alcohol and hard drugs, there is no clearly defined withdrawal syndrome, the hallmark of true addiction, when use is stopped. The drug generally isn't more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation. By ‘moderation’ here, we refer to governmental regulation, and how the government should carefully distribute.
But no, we are not about to take for granted it’s potential harm, we acknowledge that like all drugs, with Marijuana comes side effects. But wait before you go, here’s another fun fact for you to digest. Although Marijuana does indeed have some harmful effects, it is no more harmful than legal substances like alcohol and tobacco. As a matter of fact, research by the British Medical Association shows that nicotine is far more addictive than marijuana. Furthermore, the consumption of alcohol and the smoking of cigarettes cause more deaths per year than does the use of marijuana. 1200 deaths per day, to be precise. The legalization of Marijuana will remove an apparent anomaly in the law in which substances that are more dangerous than Marijuana are legal whilst the possession and use of marijuana remains illegal. So just from that, we prove to you that the overly exaggerated paradigm is false.
With false accusations towards Marijuana aside, we know turn to the point of its uncommonly known benefits, in which more and more medical professionals come to support by time. In recent years, like I have stated earlier, the medical world has come to their senses and realized that particular properties of marijuana do in fact bring benefits, namely towards the control of AIDS (which is crucial to obtain, in a time where AIDS kills like a cheetah runs - which Is fast), to help cancer patients towards the alleviation of pain. And last but not least, whether you know it or not anesthesia is a very expensive form of pain relief, and by legalizing Marijuana we would develop it to become a cheaper yet equally effective substitute.
Now on the point of AIDS, Patients receiving cannabinoids (smoked marijuana and marijuana pills) had improved immune function compared with those receiving placebo. They also gained about 4 pounds more on average than those patients receiving placebo. So by legalizing, AIDS patients would be able to gain weight and keep their medications down. Not just that, but marijuana also enhances the appetite of AIDS patients who experience very little will to eat as a result of their medication. Less medication, the better. When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of AIDS patients.
Cancer patients. Research has shown that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine for controlling nausea that comes with cancer therapy, reducing the eye pressure for patients with glaucoma, and reducing muscle spasms. Moreover, the latest research that was conducted by the Complutense University in Madrid indicates that Marijuana has the potential to kill cancerous ‘glioma’ cells. By that, governments should acknowledge such findings and legalize marijuana in order to alleviate the pain of patients who are affected by such diseases.
As to conclude, by our second point we prove to you that marijuana indeed has benefits that are useful for the medical world. Useful for AIDS patients, useful for cancer patients, galore. Also we have shown to you that with the ever growing cost of anesthesia in effect, marijuana would act as a cheaper substitute.

Last but not least, to conjure up our opening cases’s grand finale, we link all the above arguments to our last point, which is governmental regulation. Earlier we have acknowledged the certain harms (although proven to be insignificant) that come with marijuana, but to strengthen that particular argument, in our research we have found certain breeds of marijuana that actually has less potency than that of a cup of espresso found in your everyday coffee shop. The newly discovered "Skunk" Marijuana is a potent strain of Marijuana, grown through selective breeding, which is a cross-breed of 2 different types of marijuana. Skunk Marijuana potency ranges usually from 6% to 15% and rarely as high as 20%. The average level in coffee shops in the Netherlands is about 18–19%. But you must be wondering why haven’t you heard of this before? That, is systematically caused by the government banning marijuana in the first place. By banning, the government is closing all possibilities of finding a new strain of marijuana with less harmful side effects, like that of the Skunk. Now, we believe that with legalization, comes regulation. Regulation, meaning careful distributions and prescription of marijuana itself, under the keen eye of the government. After regulation, comes research and development. Why haven’t more skunks been discovered in these past 2 millennia? It’s because the banning has caused no money to be allocated towards the funding of such research. With no research, no development. But thanks to the kind people who have found the likes of the skunk through independent studies, our eyes are now a bit clearer in seeing this debate. Now lastly, with research and development, comes the actual safer environment of marijuana usage in the first place, which has been our team’s goal since the beginning.

As we come to a close on our opening case, we would like to remind you about how we have systematically proven that even in the essence, marijuana should not be banned because rights of bodily autonomy exists. Then comes our supporting arguments, which state that even if marijuana should be banned, we stand strong in saying that it has marvelous medical benefits hiding within it’s leaves. That with governmental regulation, the safe environment we aim for will be achieved. Also how by legalizing, the government will open doors for eager scientists and researchers alike to start digging up marijuana’s true & hidden potential; so that more less-harmful strains are found, resulting to the use of marijuana in hospitals as a cheaper substitute for anesthesia. Which, in the end does in fact make marijuana a necessity, therefore like cars and motorbikes, should NOT be banned. Thank you 