Why does society make such a big deal about smoking weed?
397875
don't worry. society won't for much longer once the older generations start dying off.\n\nthat whole thing about weed being a gateway drug is BS !\n\nweed should not be smoked unless\n1. you're an adult\n2. you can afford it (not using the money for bills for weed)\n3. your state permits you to and you hold a medical prescription\n\n(of course i have my presciption!)\n\nyeah have you ever seen a pothead go crazy ? or become irrational ? the answer is no because it doesn't happen unless they were taking something other than weed. which brings me to\n\nALCOHOL which is legal and yet is 100x times more deadly than marijuana. In fact, society GLOIFIES the use of alcohol ! IF you drink this beer, bikini clad babes will DROP from the sky to party with you and have sex with you. hahahahaha.
178824
Because they want to b1tch about something.   Seriously, smoking outside isn't going to give anyone cancer any more than that car they drive.  It's getting completely out of hand.
119038
I don't know who exactly...but it;s not like pot is banned world wide. There are other countries that sell it, tax it or just don't care and those countries are probably the ones that started testing it's effects on there citizens.
425821
Because for whatever reason, they have not figured out that the joys in life can make you high.  I went through that stage too. I recall the moment it all changed for me as a teenager.  We were all sitting around in a room with Pink Floyd "The Wall" album blaring and the TV was on and a rerun of The Three Stooges on but the volume was off.  Everyone was passing around a joint and drinking (except me) and really getting into watching the Stooges with Floyd playing in the background.  I thought to myself, my God , do I look this stupid when I am stoned? You should be so proud of yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
97943
The funny thing about all these answers is that because THEY do it, they think that most people do too.  But that is not true.  Most of us know that the stoners are losers, but they are too stoned to realize it!
269640
basically it is because there is no communication between parents and children. this creates a distance between them and children start looking up to peers. but still no answer can clarify how the peers start smoking in the first place.
657258
The whole world has decriminalized marijuana, except the U.S. The Police and gov't use it as a means of invasion and control. They use it as a means to fill their prisons. They use it as a means to steal and confiscate and redistribute wealth to themselves. They use it as a means to get into your pockets and to search every crevice of your privacy. They use it as an excuse to monitor your phone and email. They use it as a means of entry when they "smell" it. There is no human right that stands in their way when an "informer" reveals there "might" be marijuana present. It is an excuse for them to do everything for our "protection" and to protect our children.\n\nWhy on earth would gov't want to legalize or even decriminalize marijuana. They got it goin' on.\n\nAfter smoking marijuana for 30 years, I am now afraid of all drugs. It chose my friends, my music, and what I did with my time. I somehow managed to finish college, but I did not excel, and it kept me away from the best students, out of the best groups, and I would never be hired by the best companies or work for the highest salary. I accomplished very little aside from what I had to. I managed to raise three lovely girls, but the divorce was largely over marijuana use. I've lost two jobs because of it. \n\nIt gets ahold of you psychologically, and controls your life. You spend untold amounts of time smoking it, or trying to smoke it, or trying to find it, or trying to make money so you can buy some. It drains your time, your energy, your memory, and your pocket book. The resources lost to marijuana must be incredible.\n\nDecriminalize it yes. Nobody should go to prison and be branded a criminal because they can't control their drug use. It is like a disease that should be treated, not by isolating the person and destroying them and their family, but by helping them to understand their dilemma, and giving them treatment. \n\nIf you want new facts about marijuana, and some fuel for your arguments, check out the reference.
835502
i take it that you are a pothead ???? your use and possession of drugs do effect me my family and anyone else that may be out on the street with you while you are high...drugs are also a major part in crime which also effects the everyday innocent person!it will also effect the person that you will steal from when you have no other way to pay for your habit and yes it will happen deny it now but it will it always does!
791762
Touching weed has nothing to do with it.  Now if you were next to someone you are inhaling what they are smoking.  It's like cigarette smoke, yah know they say second hand smoke is worse than first hand smoke.  It will show up on a drug test because it will be in your system.  Now how much you inhale depends on how much you breathe in.
708701
There are a whole bunch of laws that are set by people who don't partake of the activity they wish to regulate.\n\nGet used to the no smoking thing. It's everywhere.
611498
i believe that it is a crime everywhere (federal law, and upheld by the supreme court) to have anything dealing with a marijuana plant in your possession, and also paraphanalia.  interestingly enough, in most places, it isnt illegal to actually smoke it, except if you are driving.
263418
Weed frees your mind! Its a natural herb that God intended for us to smoke to take on all stress and illnesses we have. Cigeretes are just evil give you lung cancer.
821848
It is about polititions play God on another issue to get or more likely keep votes. If you ask them why they will talk circles about protecting us from ourselves. The truth is the polititions are protecting the pharmisudical companies. If marijuana was regulated and sold leagaly it would it would put the smuggelers out of business and help to keep it from the younger kids that should be protected. I personaly know hundreds of people who have been smoking pot for 25-35 years. They go to work every day, pay there taxes and are better citizens than many of the people who preach against letting people live their own lives. As far as pot being a gateway drug, it is only a gateway drug because it is illeagal. People smoke a little and they like it or not, if they like it they start loosing respect for our laws because they realize everything they have been told is a lie. Law and order should not be based on lies!  I do agree that driving and smoking is bad. But given a choice I would much rather be on the road with a hundred stoners than one drunk. If all of the government money wasted on enforcing marijuana laws was put into fighting the dangerous drugs the DEA might actually make a positive difference in drug use. In the mean time you have millions of people in this country with a lower respect for the law and find it difficult to get and keep a job because of smoking a joint after work. So the holyer than thou polititions and their supporters have us by the short hairs and will not give up their veiws because they want everyone to live the way they want us to live. Is this what a "free country" does to it's citizens? I think not. Sorry for the mis-spelling but spellcheck isn't working today. And I wasn't a very good speller long before the first puff of smoke!
79743
YeS! Our world would be a much better place if we could just smoke a hooter every now and then...it is not harmful. It makes you so mellow and happy! Did you ever know a mean pot head? They are always so sharing. I heard that in Canada somewhere it is legal and their crime rate is so much lower than the US's.  The govt. it just pissed they cant tax the stuff.
1084926
I have theories, but they're just theories. Cigarettes and alcohol are legal because they bring big dollars to the government. And they are entirely too common. Marijuana legalized would bring big bucks too, but they would rather use it for keeping the prisons full. The towns that have prisons, typically the prison is their primary source of income. More prisoners equals more free labor, and more jobs within the prison for town residents.  There's also the race thing. Minorities are the ones caught with marijuana charges. After being imprisoned, they're lives are over. Possession of marijuana is grounds for denial of financial aid for college and for employment. Therefore usually after being released they are found doing the exact same thing all over again, or worse. And the cycle continues. There are deeper reasons why marijuana is kept illegal, your proof lies in the fact that cigarettes remain legal no matter what. Several cities are banning the indoor smoking in all public places because of the hazards of secondhand smoking but the thought of making it criminal to smoke at all never came up.
1165483
Dont listen to the people on here who have never done drugs, they dont know anything about it.  From someone who has, you dont want to get into doing them, weed leads to other more powerful drugs.  And sometimes you cant stop.  you will never know if you are one of those kinds of people until its too late.  They really can ruin your life.  If you want to be successful and healthy, dont get into them.
1045398
Mostly fear. And ignorance. \n\nThe medical community and people who decide what is legal and illegal still consider marijuana to be a gateway drug. They think it is  bad for you. \n\nWhile I agree with you about it should be legal, it isn't. \n\nYou can it taken off the list of illegal drugs and work to make it legal, but until it is legal, don't break the law and risk going to jail. Instead, work to get it made legal. \n\nIt is legal for medical use in Oregon and California and all over the west coast. \n\nWork to get it legalized.