My Debate Topic: Drugs should be legal
Resolution: Individuals should have the right to determine which drugs they wish to consume without the threat of arrest of incarceration
| PRO | CON |
| Sophia | Angelee |
| Sienna | Eshana |
In this debate, my some points which I argued was that drug epidemic in Canada is a growing problem. People who use drugs obtain them from drug dealers since they are illegal. But this is dangerous because often times, the substances are laced with other substances that the user is not aware of. Dealers do this to allow their clients to obtain a quicker high and get addicted so they come back. This is dangerous because if the wrong amounts are added in, it can quickly be fatal to the user. Anther point made was that people who use needles as a method of drug injection, sometimes wont properly dispose of it. This causes a hazard for others as needles can contain blood-borne disease like HIV. It was observed tat legalizing drugs decreased teen drug use, drug overdoses, and deaths in Portugal. Additionally. many leaders in ‘The Global Commission on Drug Policy’, have been promoting decriminalization of drugs and in 2014 recommended that governments legalize all drugs.
My Debate Reflection
What I realized I still need to work on through the debating unit is being more prepared. Early preparation of rebuttals and cross examination questions will allow me to flow through the debate without worrying about what I will be saying next. My strengths are finding solid examples that support my points. I found many examples in news articles, therefore, I could further explain my reasoning for the pro side. I am most proud of finding information and summarizing it all into a speech. I was able to explain my examples of support it.
My Favorite Quote
“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it”
— Joseph Joubert
Works Cited
Canada, H. (2022, December 22). Government of Canada. Canada.ca.
Canada, P. H. A. of. (2021, December 1). Government of Canada. Canada.ca.
CBC/Radio Canada. (2017a, February 1). “The War on Drugs is an abject failure”: Why this liberal MP thinks all drugs should be legalized | CBC News. CBCnews.
CBC/Radio Canada. (2017b, November 7). How cities across Canada are dealing with discarded needles | CBC news. CBCnews.
CBC/Radio Canada. (2020, June 11). Pandemic worsens Canada’s deadly opioid overdose epidemic | CBC News. CBCnews.
Should drugs be legalized? legalization pros and cons. netivist.org. (n.d.).
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, April 20). Drug use and viral infections (HIV, hepatitis) DrugFacts. National Institutes of Health.
Core Competency Reflection
Communication: My strategies for collecting relevant information when I researched for my debate include talking to my debate partner and making sure our information lines up with each other. I also asked some of the helpers in the classroom for advice on my speech.
Collaboration: I knew my partner and I were working well together when one of us gave the other advice or talked about how we would write our speech, we were active listener and took each others advice.
Critical and Reflective Thinking: I used criteria and or feedback to improve my debate; evidence of that is when I followed the criteria in the teams post used to structure my speech. I also used my previous speech as a structure reference to write my speech.
Creative Thinking: When it seems the good ideas just wont come to me, I take a break by going on a walk to help calm myself or create space in my mind to help think of better ideas later on.