Marijuana 1AC
Plan
Plan: The United States federal government should remove marihuana from the
Controlled Substances Act.
Contention 1
Contention 1---Marijuana
State legalization’s inevitable
Voorhees 14 – Josh Voorhees, Senior Writer for Slate and Former Writer for Politico and Greenwire, “Yes, We
Cannabis: Has the Legalization of Marijuana in America Become Inevitable?”, Slate, June,
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/06/marijuana_legalization_will_weed_soon_be_legal
_everywhere_in_the_united.html
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that the legalization of marijuana is inevitable . We’ll
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increasingly like the voters may not be so patient if given the choice.
But, pot’s illegal under federal law. Threat of enforcement creates uncertainty that drives
the industry underground.
Kamin 14 – Sam Kamin, Professor and Director, Constitutional Rights and Remedies Program, University of
Denver, Sturm College of Law; J.D., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, “The Limits of Marijuana
Legalization in the States”, Iowa Law Review Bulletin, http://www.uiowa.edu/~ilr/bulletin/ILRB_99_Kamin.pdf
I. INTRODUCTION Marijuana regulation in the United States is in a period of unprecedented
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I provide an illustrative, if not exhaustive, list of these difficulties.
Even if not enforced, the CSA creates legal conflicts that crush the industry
Kamin 14 – Sam Kamin, Professor and Director, Constitutional Rights and Remedies Program, University of
Denver, Sturm College of Law; J.D., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, “Cooperative Federalism and State
Marijuana Regulation”, University of Colorado Law Review, Fall, 85 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1105, Lexis
II. A Step in the Right Direction - But Problems Remain By forestalling,
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states truly be empowered to chart their own policy direction.
CSA removal’s key to alter the policies of multiple federal agencies---non-enforcement fails
Mikos 14 – Robert Mikos, Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Law and Government at Vanderbilt
Law School, “Can President Obama Single-Handedly Legalize Marijuana?”, Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform, 121, http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/2014/01/can-president-obama-single-handedly-legalizemarijuana.html
Non-enforcement , of course, falls far short of de jure legalization .
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a change in federal and state law —to kill the hydra completely.
Removal must be unambiguous to green-light the industry
Firestone 14 – David Firestone, Assistant Editor and Editorial Writer for the New York Times, “Let States
Decide on Marijuana”, New York Times, 7-26, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-letstates-decide-on-marijuana.html?_r=0
In 1970, at the height of his white-hot war on crime,
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Controlled Substances Act against anyone acting in compliance with a state marijuana law.
Underground pot fuels narcoterrorism---legalization stops large-scale attacks and dries up
Mexican cartels
Beauchamp 14 – Zack Beauchamp, Editor of TP Ideas and Reporter for ThinkProgress.org, Previously
Contributed to Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish at Newsweek/Daily Beast, Former Writer for Foreign Policy and Tablet,
B.A.s in Philosophy and Political Science from Brown University and M.Sc in International Relations from the
London School of Economics, “What Everyone Should Know About Legal Pot And Terrorism”, ThinkProgress, 18, http://thinkprogress.org/security/2014/01/08/3122901/drugs-terrorism/
But the effects of America’s drug war aren’t confined to our borders. Drug prohibition
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they’ll be somewhat more limited in their ability to conduct violence without them.
Legalization has a big effect---contrary evidence is wrong
Ozimek 11 – Adam Ozimek, Director of Research and Senior Economist at Econsult Solutions, Inc., “Legalizing
Marijuana Could Save Thousands of Lives”, The Atlantic, June,
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/legalizing-marijuana-could-save-thousands-of-lives/240905/
A recent op-ed in the New York Times by Sylvia Longmire tries to
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presented a convincing case that the same would not be true in Mexico.
Attacks will be nuclear---cartels are a key proxy
AI 11 – Analysis Intelligence, 11 [“Iron Triangle of Terror: Iran, Hezbollah and Los Zetas,” 12/19,
http://analysisintelligence.com/intelligence-analysis/iron-triangle-of-terror-iran-hezbollah-and-los-zetas/]
Some sources have said that the strengthening relationship between Iran and Venezuela has increased
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an attempt made by Iran to assassinate the Saudi ambassador on US soil .
Threat’s high---nothing checks
Bunn 13 (Matthew, Valentin Kuznetsov, Martin B. Malin, Yuri Morozov, Simon Saradzhyan, William H. Tobey, Viktor I. Yesin, and Pavel S. Zolotarev. "Steps to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism." Paper, Belfer Center for
Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, October 2, 2013, Matthew Bunn. Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School andCo-Principal Investigator of Project on Managing the Atom at
Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. • Vice Admiral Valentin Kuznetsov (retired Russian Navy). Senior research fellow at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, Senior Military Representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense to NATO from 2002 to 2008. • Martin Malin. Executive Director of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs. • Colonel Yuri Morozov (retired Russian Armed Forces). Professor of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences and senior research fellow at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
chief of department at the Center for Military-Strategic Studies at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces from 1995 to 2000. • Simon Saradzhyan. Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs, Moscow-based defense and security expert and writer from 1993 to 2008. • William Tobey. Senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and director of the U.S.-Russia Initiative to
Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration from 2006 to 2009. • Colonel General Viktor Yesin (retired Russian Armed Forces).
Leading research fellow at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and advisor to commander of the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia, chief of staff of the Strategic Missile Forces from 1994
to 1996. • Major General Pavel Zolotarev (retired Russian Armed Forces). Deputy director of the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Information and Analysis Center of the
Russian Ministry of Defense from1993 to 1997, section head - deputy chief of staff of the Defense Council of Russia from 1997 to 1998., 10/2/2013, “Steps to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism: Recommendations Based on the U.S.-Russia
Joint Threat Assessment”, http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/23430/steps_to_prevent_nuclear_terrorism.html)
I. Introduction In
2011, Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and
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the intention to acquire and use nuclear weapons is as strong as ever.
Contention 2
Contention 2 – State Experimentation
Marijuana turf war is causing a crisis between the states and national government
Schwartz 13(David S, Foley & Lardner-Bascom Professor of Law University of Wisconsin Law School, “HIGH
FEDERALISM: MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AND THE LIMITS OF FEDERAL POWER TO REGULATE
STATES,” http://www.cardozolawreview.com/content/35-2/SCHWARTZ.35.2.pdf)
Marijuana legalization by the states presents the most pressing and complex federalism issue of our
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an exaggeration to say that state marijuana legalization presents a federalism crisis .7
State-federal sparing undermines the cultural dimension of state authority
Stern and DiFonzo 9(Ruth C. Stern, J.D., M.S.W., attorney at law, J. Herbie DiFonzo, J.D., Ph.D., Professor of
Law, Hofstra University, “The End of the Red Queen's Race: Medical Marijuana in the New Century,” Quinnipiac
Law Review, lexis)
But the Constitution does not resolve all the clashes between "the two different governments
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, however, pose an even greater threat to them than does arrest.
Regulatory disconnect at all three levels of government makes marijuana unique
Kamin 13(Sam, Professor and Director, Constitutional Rights and Remedies Program, University of Denver,
Sturm College of Law, Medical Marijuana in Colorado and the Future of Marijuana Regulation in the United States,
Jan 7, http://www.mcgeorge.edu/Documents/Publications/07_Kamin_EIC_FINAL.pdf)
When it comes to the overlapping regulation of marijuana in the United States, the
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RIAA before it, will simply have to conclude that enough is enough .
It’s the test case for state experimentation
Crick et al 13(Emily Crick - Research Assistant, Global Drug Policy Observatory, Heather J. Haase - Consultant,
International Drug Policy Consortium/Harm Reduction Coalition, Dave Bewley-Taylor - Director, Global Drug
Policy Observatory, “Legally regulated cannabis markets in the US: Implications and possibilities,” November,
http://konyvtar.eski.hu/tmpimg/378746103_0.pdf
Furthermore, the CSA calls on the federal government ‘to enter into contractual agreements
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of federal policy such as gun control, immigration
and health care.155
State experimentation solves immigration – best at distributing high-skilled labor
effectively
Fuller and Rust 14(Brandon Fuller is a research scholar at New York University and deputy director of the
Urbanization Project at the NYU Stern School of Business. Sean Rust is a practicing attorney and a recent graduate
of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law where he was a law and public policy scholar, “State-Based Visas A
Federalist Approach to Reforming U.S. Immigration Policy,” CATO, April 23,
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa748_web_1.pdf)
U.S. immigration policy currently prevents many productive foreign workers
from
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and entrepreneurs
approach to im- migration policy.
Similar policies have worked well elsewhere.
Increasing visas and streamlining the process fosters science diplomacy – that enables
solution to disease, environmental protection, and global conflict
Pickering and Agre 10 (Thomas R., Advisory Council – Civilian Research and Development Foundation, and
Dr. Peter, Director – Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and President – American Association for the
Advancement of Science, “More opportunities needed for U.S. researchers to work with their foreign counterparts”,
Partnership for a Secure America, 2-9, http://www.psaonline.org/article.php?id=634)
Leverage [SciDip]Science Diplomacy Now to Boost U.S. Foreign Policy
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to strengthen that tool and advance our diplomatic goals should not be missed .
Extinction
Fedoroff 8 (Dr. Nina, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State and the Administrator of USAID,
“Making Science Diplomacy More Effective”, Testimony before the House Science Subcommittee on Research and
Science Education, 4-2, http://2001-2009.state.gov/g/stas/2008/105286.htm)
Using Science Diplomacy to Achieve National Security Objectives
The welfare and stability of countries
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a means to
enhance security , increase global partnerships, and create sustainability .
Iraq looks to US decentralization– key to solve the civil war and ISIS – otherwise it spills
over to the region
Pollack 14(Kenneth, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institute, “Options
for U.S. Policy Toward Iraq,” July 24, http://www.brookings.edu/research/testimony/2014/07/24-options-us-policytoward-iraq-pollack)
Second, it is equally critical that we accept the reality that Iraq has fallen
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help all Iraqis and not just the Shi’a (and their Iranian allies).
Middle East war goes nuclear
Primakov 9 (Yevgeny, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; Member of the Russian Academy
of Sciences; member of the Editorial Board of Russia in Global Affairs. This article is based on the scientific report for which the author was
awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008, “The Middle East Problem in the Context of International
Relations”, 9/08)
Middle East conflict is unparalleled in terms of its potential for spreading globally.
The
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seems that President Obama’s position does not completely rule out such a possibility.
ISIS causes great power war
Addam Corre 6-17-14, Inquisitr writer, “World War 3: Forget Ukraine, Iraq Is The Most Likely Flash Point”,
Inquisitr, 06/17/2014, http://www.inquisitr.com/1303680/world-war-3-forget-ukraine-iraq-is-the-most-likely-flashpoint/
Over the past few months speculation has been rife that the events in Ukraine could
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indirect result of the actions of ISIS is not such a fanciful prediction!
Removing marijuana from the CSA solves state experimentation – avoids race to the
bottom and produces the best regulatory structure
Shechtman 12(Matthew, judicial law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Joint
Authority? The Case for State-Based Marijuana Regulation, Winter, Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy,
http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1135&context=tjlp)
The origin of today's "War on Drugs" emanated from Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential
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the best vehicle for public welfare, citizen autonomy, and efficient regulation .