what are some reasons marijuana should stay illegal?
406287
There are absolutely no reasons for it to stay illegal. It's an enormous cheek that it is illegal, it's a bit like saying "God made a mistake!" (thanks to Bill Hicks deceased for that) and that seems a tad presumptuous to me.
1060501
Originally weed was made illegal because it was a threat to the oil companies.  Hemp was such a useful commodity, that Shell oil actually helped in creating propaganda films(such as Reefer Madness) to lump it as part of a hardcore drug culture.  It helped to stop research and use of a natural material that was an actual threat to the oil barons.  Why government doesn't decriminalize it now is years of negative campaigning that is still hard to shake.  Hell, look at Clinton's first appointed surgeon general.  She came out publicly about pot's positive effect medically.  She already was female and black, so you know conservative America wasn't ready to hear that from her, of all people.  She was gone within a year.
314571
pot was made illegal when lsd and all the hard druggs of the 60's were i think. instead of actually knowing what pot was or how it was different then acid and x and cocaine, and the other hard drugs, it was illegialized right along with it. so really for no good reason is it illegal.. yes it should be legalized.. we wouldnt spend so much money on the fight against drugs, and would be able to focus on the important things like coke, and crack, and heron, exc... the things that actually kill ppl
859465
Pot became illegal after the end of Prohibition.  The government needed a job for all those Prohibition Officers.  Instead of disbanning the department, they choose to go after other personal demons.\n\nI read a very interesting article, back when the Fed's decided to criminalize marijuana, many, many doctors petitioned the government to not do it.   Even way back then, some docs knew of the medicinal qualities of pot.  Of course, after the government pulled some heavy handed tactics, the docs shut up.\n\nJust because you personally don't like it, or use it, should not mean that I don't have the right to.  I don't like perfume, should I petition Congress to outlaw it?\n\nDue to our ridiculous Prohibition on pot & other drugs, it is now easier for our young people to buy drugs, than beer.  Ask any teen you know, they will tell you the same thing.\n\nIMHO, the federal government will NEVER de-criminalize pot, they have way too many people on the payroll that they won't fire or transfer to other departments.  The "war on drugs" is futile, and big business, no way would our government voluntarily shrink it's size.
753109
The cotton industry used its power via lobbyists to pressure congress to make hemp/cannabis illegal. This was done years and years ago. \n\nAlso, you will notice that alcohol is enjoyed by the wealthy. Attend any high class function and the expensive liquor will be flowing! \n\nThat my friend is why Marijuana is illegal.
79600
Yes, marijuana should be legal, because the current system of illegalization is unfair. Why are cigarettes, which are proven to be tons more times unhealthy and deadly than marijuana, legal? Cigs kill through a physical addiction as well as a psychological addiction, which means that you actually become physically dependent on the drug and you enjoy how it makes you feel, and therefore you develop the diseases that kill you. On the other hand, marijuana does not cause a physical addiction, but a psychological addiction. So you don't die from weed, and there are very few reports that support the direct disease development of weed that kills you. So why are cigs legal and taxed, but weed isn't? Why don't they just make weed legal, tax the hell out of it so it can benefit the economy, and set an age limit for 21 years-old, just like alcohol. This will benefit everyone, because it will allow taxes for law enforcement to go towards people who are actually committing violent crimes instead of trying to calm down after a hard day by smoking weed. Also, it will stop the violence that erupts over the weed drug war between gangs and thugs. Money will no longer be an issue for the gangs to fight about over the weed.\n\nWe all know why weed is illegal - because the majority of its users are minorities and those in poverty. Sure, there is a fair share of middle and upper class young people who smoke weed, but the majority are those of us in the lower tier of society. If it was made legal, then those in power (the rich, upper class and conservative citizens) would not have as much power over us. Bottom line. Dispute it if you want, but the evidence is clear.\n\nIt's the same thing with why a smaller amount of crack carries a harsher legal penalty than the same amount of pure cocaine. Poor minorities use crack, upper class citizens use pure cocaine.
968027
Keeping drugs illegal hardly makes money for the government.  We spend billions each year and have little to show for it.  Instead, the reality is that it is very politically unpopular to come out in favor of legalization.  actually there are even several conservative thinkers who despise addicts and addiction and drugs in general nonetheless favor legalization (including legendary but controversial conservative economist Milton Friedman who died last week) as a policy.  Until these voices can convince the general public that legalization would save money and lives and not constitute society's tacit approval of what is generally destructive behavior (yes, even marijuana can have dire consequences for its abusers) there will be little political impetus for change.  Thus, right now, the issue is simply a nonstarter for any politician who wants to keep his or her job.
6144
It is far safer than drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco.  Alcohol and tobacco are physically addictive, and both are lethal in high doses; marijuana is non-toxic and not physically addictive.\n\nThe biggest danger from marijuana is the legal threat.\n\nThere is no good reason for it to be illegal, none whatsoever.
769865
Absolutly.  Making it illegal wastes tax dollars and ruins people's lives who have not engaged in any sort of violent crime.  Instead, they have done something very similar to drinking or smoking cigarettes, and because they have, they now face jail time, huge fines and criminal records.  It should, at the very least, be decriminalized, as the punishment would be rehab or something.  But absolutly, legalization will put drug dealers out of business (similar to the way the end of prohibition ended the mobster culture).  It would bring in more revenue, it could be regulated (and kid can tell you its easier to get pot than beer, as they don't have to show their ID to dealers), and it would free up our police to search out and get violent criminals more effectivly.
78588
Blame it on the Mormons and the Jazz musicians!  Anti-Marijuana legislation began because of several reasons, but the one's that were crucial were the Mormon church elders in Utah, and the racists everywhere else. Marijuana was villianized for no logical reasons, just purely ignorant and fearful ones.  \nIt's health benefits are indisputable, in fact I think it could really help a lot of the mentally ill (social anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia etc).  People who smoke marijuana are generally not a danger to others, or themselves.  I don't believe marijuana is a gateway drug at all!  If our government were smart (haha) they would legalize, regulate it, and tax it.\nSince this is not likely to happen anytime soon (it's too damn simple), we get stuck smoking in our closets, while the drunkards go barhopping legally.
861746
Why should we decriminalize or legalize marijuana?\nAs President Jimmy Carter acknowledged: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."\n\nMarijuana prohibition needlessly destroys the lives and careers of literally hundreds of thousands of good, hard-working, productive citizens each year in this country. More than 700,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges last year, and more than 5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses in the past decade. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for simple possession, not trafficking or sale. This is a misapplication of the criminal sanction that invites government into areas of our private lives that are inappropriate and wastes valuable law enforcement resources that should be focused on serious and violent crime.
722877
The reason why hemp is illegal is not because of any residual psychedelic properties it might have (even the government recognizes you would get sick before you had smoked enough hemp to get high), but because if it were legal it would make the ban on marijuana completely unenforceable.\n\nThe leaves of both the marijuana and the hemp plants are completely indistinguishable by any means other than testing in a laboratory. They cannot be told apart by any visual or sensory means (smell, taste, etc). As such, if a person were carrying what looked like marijana leaves dried and crushed up for smoking, a police officer would have NO ability to express reasonable suspicion or probable cause that the leaves were not from a hemp plant, and could not then have the authority to seize and test any such product. The fact that hemp leaves dried and crushed for smoking would be useless would not matter to a judge.\n\nI fully believe that marijuana, like dental cocaine, has some legitimate medicinal value, and that hemp can produce some economic gain for small farmers and businessmen. I am not saying your petition is without merit. However, I think it is important that you realize why the government is so adamant about maintaining the ban on marijuana and hemp together, and that a lot of people who have employment that requires trust between themselves and the government (ie- having some sort of license or permit from a state or federal government entity) will not be in a position to sign such a petition.
273431
Before I start, let me mention that I have not smoked marijuana in many years, but have certainly had my share of alcohol.\n\nMarijuana prohibition is idiotic, born out of ideas, fear, and propaganda from a time long ago.  It is safer than alcohol by far, and is only frowned upon because of the legality and social stigma placed upon it.  No one has ever died from marijuana poisoning, or pot withdrawal, yet both of these things happen with alcohol on a daily basis throughout the country and the world.  Riots are not started by folks who are stoned, but violence and drunkenness go hand and hand.\n\nIf the drug were made legal, it could be taxed and regulated just like tobacco or booze.  Legalization would free up space and court resources for real criminals, saving the taxpayers money and getting more dangerous folks off the street.  It's a crime that this drug is treated like a dangerous, physically addictive drug, and it shouldn't be a crime to do it.
750149
Because ILLEGAL means NOT LEGAL.
1123550
I don't think marijuana should have ever been illegal, I think it is just as dangerous as alcohol.  I think the issue was and always will be that alcohol was consumed by "white men" and marijuana was consumed by "Native Americans."  When we took control of what now is the US we shunned all Native culture, and marijuana part of that.  Currently Marlboro cigarettes already owns the rights to produce "joints" should marijuana be legalized.  I think it's about time that people changed their attitudes on this subject.
72317
"Making Marijuana against the law is like saying God made a mistake"\n-Bill Hicks\n\n\nit's only illegal because the government doesn't have the control over it like they do on every other substance that is legal.\nAlcohol is much worse for you than marijuana, yet it's legal. you do the math.\nIt has nothing to do with the harm that marijuana may have, yet that is what all the propaganda is based on.  Otherwise, how would you have propaganda being at all useful if it was just simply "the government cant control it, so don't use it". No, they want to lie and preach that it's actually harmful to you. That's the only way they get it to stay illegal, too many people think it's actually harmful so there's not enough to overturn the rule.\n\nIt's also not a matter of IF it can harm you at all. You can get harmed by anything taken beyond moderation. The fact is it has less harm than something that is legal. Therefore being nothing short of total hypocrisy and lies by the government.\n\nP.S.\nI'm not a pothead or a hippy, etc.. I don't use it and I never have. I know enough people and have seen enough information that I don't need to be a pothead to have a strong view on the matter.
772292
I think that people have done enough harm to make sure marijuana stays criminalized by their actions. There's a lot of people that carry the title of being a pothead as a badge of honor or whatever. One of the biggest reasons I ever laid off smoking marijuana was because I saw so much disrespect to the herb. I believe that it's the oldest healer that we have around. It has been used to help people relax, reach to a higher being of their own understanding in many Native American tribes as well as Aztecs and many other primal tribes in the world, it's also used to heal. My mother suffers from arthritis, she soaks some marijuana in rubbing alcohol, then applies an alcohol soaked rag on the part of her aching joint (no pun intended) and the pain is subdued. I think that the reason in is not criminalized id because it's an herb. People would grow it and use it to their own consumption. My only consern with that is the lack of responsibility of certain people that would use it. I know a lot of kids out there love having that whole grown-up facade and think that smoking your brain off is so cool, but they fail to see the other of side of smoking or eating marijuana, the doors it can open to your subconcious and mentality in all it's complex existence. I don't think it will be decriminalized because it really would be a hard thing to keep a tax on and if people can get away with buying it and distributing it now, they most definitely will if it's decriminalized all together.