Marijuana Legalization Debate

During this heated debate, Baldwin pointed out a fact that did not occur to me until viewing this video. He pointed out that after marijuana smokers smoke and get high many of them will get in the car and drive putting other innocent lives at risk. Ron Paul pointed out that with prohibition many bootleg kings came into power on the black market like Al Capone, who also brought tons of crime to Chicago. If there was no prohibition than there would not be a need for these black market czars. Baldwin brought up a moral stand about smoking marijuana will be a gateway drug that leads its users into more hard drugs and alcohol abuse. Both Baldwin and Paul agree that it should be allowed for medical purposes. Paul strongly advocated that the legalization issue should be left up to the state governments not the federal one.

In this debate I believe that Stephen Baldwin made the better argument. I think the fact that it is a gateway drug and could potentially risk innocent Americans lives should be enough to make it remain illegal. I know personally that I would not want to see any of my family members be killed because someone was irresponsible while smoking marijuana and decided to drive while impaired. If making marijuana illegal will reduce car related deaths by marijuana impairment then I think it should be made illegal. If it is used for medicinal purposes then that is different, but it is not something I believe one can take their chances with all for the sake of a good time. It is the governments role to protect the people and I think that the best way they can protect the people is by keeping marijuana illegal. I think the legalization issue should be left to the federal governent to decide if it is illegal, not the state government. I literally started laughing however when Ron Paul made the comment that "I understand there are a few people who smoke marijuana already" (Paul). Well Ron...there's actually more than just a few people smoking marijuana already. Goes to show that he needed to do more research on this topic before completely making himself look like an idiot.


"Ron Paul debates Stephen Baldwin on Legalizing Marijuana on CNN Larry King 03/13/2009 ." YouTube. Web. 8 Apr 2010. .