Drug legalization Debate 4/2

Hello all I went to the recent drug legalization debate/discussion held in the Alice Haynes commons last Wednesday and I wanted to share some of the highlights of that discussion and perhaps continue the discussion here. Let me note that the discussion was overseen by a mitigator and was between three chosen panelists, two leadership professors and a campus police officer, and was posed with predetermined questions. While listening to this open discussion one of the more interesting things I noticed was the way the three speakers differed in making their arguments in reference to the main question which was ‘What should be the legal status of marijuana?’ The female leadership professor started with the premise: a person’s freedom to do what they want to themselves is good. Then she went on to argue the illegal status of marijuana restricts that freedom so therefore marijuana usage should not be illegal. The male professor used a differnt approach and instead of taking a complete stand against laws outlawing marijuana he made a note of saying he is no means an expert on the potential pros and cons of marijuana but that he is in favor of lifting the ban. The officer was interestingly also in favor of making marijuana not illegal although he did not say that he was in favor of complete legalization. During the debate the consensus seemed to be opposed to laws against marijuana but interesting questions rose in the face of in what way would we go for decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana. One of these questions was how should it be regulated and if there should be specific parameters around the use of it. In my opinion I believe that marijuana should be legalized out right. I think this because I am in the same boat as the female professor in thinking that the government should not infringe on someone’s freedom to do what they want to and with their bodies. I’m curious to know how anyone else feels about the subject so if you had the power to change or make laws how would you approach this issue?