Negative

Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not as a
matter of criminal justice.

Definitions –

dictionary.com -

-Ought-
“A moral duty or obligation.”

medterms.com Definition -

-Public Health-
“The approach to medicine that is concerned with the health of the community as a whole. ”

legal definitions.com Definition

-Criminal Justice-
“a generic term for the procedure by which criminal conduct is investigated, arrests made, evidence
gathered, charges brought, defenses raised, trials conducted, sentences rendered, and punishment
carried out.”

Because the resolved issue specifically uses the word “ought”, this debate should focus
on which position holds the higher moral ground. Also, it is the burden of the affirmative
to show that the abuse of illegal drugs ALWAYS ought to be a matter of public health
and not of criminal justice. My VALUE for this debate is morality, and my VALUE
CRITERIA is Utility, which is defined as the greatest good for the greatest number of
people.

1) (abusers are need a helping hand)

When a person abuses an illegal drug, they introduce a foreign chemical into their
system that alters their perception of reality. This makes every person who abuses illegal
drugs a very real potential danger to everyone around them, including themselves. It is
to everyone's benefit, then, to make sure the individual who is abusing illegal substances
gets removed from society for a little while to get clean. That is what the criminal justice
system does. Illegal drug offenders are removed from regular society to break free from
their addiction to such a dangerous substance. Whether they are put into a rehabilitation
center in jail or a regular rehabilitation center, illegal drug abusers are given the care
they need to become independent from their addiction. You can't expect someone who is
physically dependent on a chemical to voluntarily walk away from it. These people need
a little push to get them on the right path, to get clean and become productive. Criminal
justice does this wonderfully, and through probation ensures that former abusers remain
clean.

2) (Illegal for a reason)

There is a reason why illegal substances are illegal in the first place. It's not
because a room full of guys in Washington thought it would be fun to see
what would happen. Illegal drugs are illegal because of the risk they pose to
the people who use them and the people around the users. These illegal
substances are considered to be more dangerous than legal substances like
alchohol. Would it be moral to allow the use of such dangerous substances to
go on without any discouragement? Doing so would allow harm to happen to
many, many people, and allowing something bad to happen when you could
have prevented it is just as bad as causing the harm yourself.

3) (who abuses drugs)

Who abuses illegal drugs? They're not all poorly educated impoverished adults. Many
abusers are high schoolers. Young people who are looking for a “good time” and use
illegal drugs to find it. When these young people are caught they are sent to juvenile hall
for a few months with sealed records. They are given the message at an early age that
illegal drugs are not an acceptable way to spend recreational time, with relatively little
time served and sealed records. Criminal justice allows us to do this. If it were a matter
of public health, these kids would be able to do drugs without fear of any legal
repercussions. They don't care about their health; they're teenagers. They think their
invincible. Not only would this cost the lives of many young people, but those who
survive would be more physically addicted than an adult would be. It's much more
difficult for these people to quit. If public health worked this matter then many more
people would be physically dependent on illegal substances.
 {}{}{} - For Cross Examination - {}{}{}

- ASK -
Does an illegal drug alter a users state of mind?

Would you agree that illegal drugs are dangerous to the user?

-ask, in this order-

• According to your V and VC, would you condone the use of illegal drugs?
• If yes OR no – So, would drugs that are currently considered illegal still be illegal?
• no – point out that in the resolved issue, the drugs we are discussing MUST BE ILLEGAL,
therefor the opponent's argument can't be valid. Their argument therefor is about making illegal
drugs legal, not making the abuse of illegal drugs a matter of public health.
• (NEXT) YES – Then, according to your V and VC, would you punish the people who abuse
illegal drugs?
• From here, point out this
YES - They would have to use some form of criminal justice to punish the abusers, for they would be
punishing offenders for an illegal act.
No – Not punishing people for an illegal act makes no sense. If we apply the same logic that my
opponent's V and VC supports to other situations, (again, the idea that people should not go to jail for
illegal acts), then people shouldn't be punished for murder, or theft, or any other act that is considered
to be illegal. Therefor my opponent's V and VC support faulty logic.