why is marijuana illegal when its just as harmful as alcohol and cigs?
398954
Alcoholand ciggs are more dangerous than marijuana. Marijuana is one of two completely chemicaly safe drugs out there. The other is LSD (acid). Neither of them have any major negative side effects. In fact ii think the reason it is still illegal is because people arnt educated enough on it. they believe all the negatives they read and never the posotives because they arnt looking for the best thing that can happen while you are stoned, they are looking for the worst. so if it was legalized there would be a largerevold and protest. and thats not what the govt. wants. so they stay safe and keep it illegal. even tho it should not be. as for those of u who think im crazy for saying lsd is harmless. look it up and u will find out it is even more harmless than weed. weed is more dangerous than lsd.
847147
Alcochol and cigarettes are both pretty bad, I've had family & friends die from both of those.....but no "marijuana" related deaths....go figure....the legal ones kill.....
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.
1038201
weed kills you and your braincells faster than cigarettes and i agree with you that cigarettes should be illegal because to many kids around 13 think its cool to smoke or its just because their under the peer pressure of friends.
1075034
The effects of both alcohol and Marijuana are so strikingly similar, that I'm shocked the government hasn't legalized it yet. It's not physically addictive either, as opposed to the other illegal drugs.
812342
Marijuana IS government regulated!!!  As with other drugs that are "illegal"  Once confiscated, it is resold on the streets and that is the vicious cycle of why these drugs are ILLEGAL...therefore making the government money "ILLEGALLY" by arresting, charging and sentencing a person to jail and fines as restitution for their possession of illegal drugs.
194155
Both can cause damage to the brain with heavy use over long periods of time, although it's much, much worse with alcohol.  Prolonged alcohol abuse will also damage the liver, while heavy marijuana smoking can cause forms of lung damage also caused by cigarette smoking.  So irresponsible use of either carries some health risk.\n\nBut it's very clear that alcohol abuse is much more likely to cause severe, irreversible, often fatal health effects than even the heaviest use of marijuana.  In theory, marijuana smoking could cause lung cancer in some people, but this is certainly very rare if it happens at all.  In contrast, the number of people in the U.S. who develop dementing brain damage (sometimes called "wet brain") or fatal liver disease, as a direct pharmacological effect of years of heavy drinking, is in the thousands.  Indirect damage (i.e. not pharmacological) to the user or others is also much more frequent with alcohol abuse than with pot smoking, given that alcohol is involved in approximately half of all motor vehicle fatalities, small aircraft crash deaths, drownings, fatal burn injuries, falls, homicides, suicides, and non-fatal injuries as well.  Marijuana smoking may be associated with some number of fatal and nonfatal injuries, but that number is probably very small.  \n\nAs if all that didn't make for a vivid, persuasive comarison favorable to marijuana, its also certain that the amounts of social, psychological, and spiritual damage associated with alcohol vastly exceed those possibly linked to pot smoking. "Reefer Madness" turns out to have been just a bad movie, and I suspect that intelligent space aliens would be astounded to discover a supposedly rational society in which alcohol use is accepted and promoted while marijuana smokers fill up jail cells.  I'm not suggesting, of course, that  there aren't good reasons for discouraging irresponsible use of alcohol OR marijuana by anyone, and children and adolescents should, in my view, be discouraged from using them at all even if both were legal for adults.
222593
I don't smoke and don't use it, but marijuana is so much less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol, that it's just crazy not to have it legalized. I'd much rather see people smoking pot than people drunk from alcohol. They're much less dangerous, both to themselves and to society, and they cause much less damage to their bodies. It's harder to get addicted to marijuana than to regular cigarettes or alcohol, too. \nBesides, the hemp plant is so incredibly useful: You can use it to make fabrics, and medication, skin care, fuel, paper and tons of other products. All this at a much lower cost than producing the same producta from wood, cotton or petrolium. \nOne man in Germany built a car entirely out of Hemp, that runs on Hemp too. Imagine what that would do for the invironment!\nThe growers of cotton and wood had a huge campain against Hemp plants, fearing that the cheap easy to grow plant would take away thier income. That's why it was banned. It's all politics.
40836
Simple answer. Cigarettes and alcohol are a huge part of the U.S. economy. If you made them illegal there would be a lot of pissed off companies and people. \n\nThere aren't very many companies in the US that depend on marijuana sales. No impact on economy... no reason to legalize it. It'll make the US no money.\n\nIn short... it's all politics.
810403
it is illegal because it has to many uses and is far cheaper than what is currently available and so the big company's never want it to become legal but here is the real info.\nWhy is Marijuana Illegal\n\nMany people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug.\n\nThe actual story shows a much different picture. Those who voted on the legal fate of this plant never had the facts, but were dependent on information supplied by those who had a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers. You'll see below that the very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie on the floor of the Senate.\n\nYou'll also see that the history of marijuana's criminalization is filled with:\n\n    * Racism\n    * Fear\n    * Protection of Corporate Profits\n    * Yellow Journalism\n    * Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators\n    * Personal Career Advancement and Greed\n\nThese are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.\n\nA picture named leaf.gif Background\n\nFor most of human history, marijuana has been completely legal. It's not a recently discovered plant, nor is it a long-standing law. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. and it was legal as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy.\n\nThe marijuana (hemp) plant, of course, has an incredible number of uses. The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp, and over the centuries the plant was used for food, incense, cloth, rope, and much more. This adds to some of the confusion over its introduction in the United States, as the plant was well known from the early 1600's, but did not reach public awareness as a recreational drug until the early 1900's.\n\nAmerica's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law "ordering" all farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other "must grow" laws over the next 200 years (you could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767), and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender (you could even pay your taxes with hemp -- try that today!) Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes (including essential war requirements - rope, etc.) that the government went out of its way to encourage growth.\n\nThe United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp "plantations" (minimum 2,000-acre farm) growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotton.\n\nThe Mexican Connection\n\nIn the early 1900s, the western states developed significant tensions regarding the influx of Mexican-Americans. The revolution in Mexico in 1910 spilled over the border, with General Pershing's army clashing with bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, bad feelings developed between the small farmer and the large farms that used cheaper Mexican labor. Then, the depression came and increased tensions, as jobs and welfare resources became scarce.\n\nOne of the "differences" seized upon during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and had brought the plant with them.\n\nHowever, the first state law outlawing marijuana did so not because of Mexicans using the drug. Oddly enough, it was because of Mormons using it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church was not pleased and ruled against use of the drug. Since the state of Utah automatically enshrined church doctrine into law, the first state marijuana prohibition was established in 1915. (Today, Senator Orrin Hatch serves as the prohibition arm of this heavily church-influenced state.)\n\nOther states quickly followed suit with marijuana prohibition laws, inclu
797756
Not comletely legal...and even if it were federal law over rides states...haven't you seen the med marijauna in CA??\n\nIt's not now...but we are still working on it...\n\nThe government can't keep the lie up much longer...people know that marijuana is not nearly as harmful as they try making it out to be.\n\nI am more concerned with my son trying harder drugs than pot...in fact I would be more angry if he come home drunk than if he come home high....but I would still be pi**ed!
463165
According to most research on the subject, alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana.  Alcohol, in moderation, does have benefits, though.  When either is used in excess, you see health problems and diseases.  Marijuana is not addictive, alcohol is.  Both can cause accidents.  Of the two, I'd rather be around a pot smoker than a drunk, but that's just my opinion.
995801
Yes Yes Yes 1,000,000 times YES!!!!\n\nAlready answered one like this today, but here goes again...\n\nIt is no worse than alcohol or tobacco,, both of which are LEGAL products.\n\nIt has NEVER caused even ONE death, ever.\n\nContrary to popular belief, it does NOT cause cancer, and it may actually have preventative effects.  (according to a recent study at UCLA, link below)\n\nIt should be legal for adults, just like alcohol and tobacco.\n\n"High" driving would likely still be a crime (even though a new study shows it is not a factor in driving accidents, link below) \n\nPot smokers are non-violent.  The most they'd do is eat all the food out of your fridge.\n\nMOST pot smokers can use it responsibly.  It is not physically addictive.  SOME people might become psychologically addicted, but these people are more susceptible to addiction and would likely become alcoholics or addicts of something else.\n\nThat enough reasons for everyone?
512143
Because they cannot arrest everyone.  And the only reason marijuana is illegal anyway is to keep kids from smoking it.  It's really better for you than alcohol.  Most people I know smoke it, and those who don't are cool with it.  I know a bunch of cops that smoke too.
323935
Herb is illegal because of its ability to "gateway" individuals onto other stronger addictions. No matter what anyone tells your "herb" is a drug and is addicting, it puts pressure on the backs of the eyes, giving the impression of (stoned) (or chinked eyed) and speeds the bodies endomorphins up, (the bodies natural defense for pain) chemical alcohol is legal only because they can tax it and herb they cannot, in your defense, it should be legal, but they cant tax it and its america... so ......
500750
It's not legal because it can't be regulated by the government, because it's generally regarded as a gateway drug (one that leads to other, more dangerous drug use), and because, since it hasn't always been legal like in some European countries, legalizing it would not only lead to a massive initial interest in it-- which would lead to increased health care costs (don't front; it damages respiratory systems and impairs judgment) and decrease labor quality-- and all those drug dealers who sold weed would need to find something else to do, and my guess is it wouldn't be a legit job-- so it'd also cause a spike in crime; probably gun sale, or increased trafficking in worse narcotics.\n\nIt's a dumb f--king idea.
67900
First of all I will say I do not smoke it myself, although I dabbled with it a few times in Highschool.\nMarijuana use is less harmful and risky than the use of alcohol, tobacco, and many nonprescription drugs. It is the safest illegal drug. Marijuana is much less addictive than tobacco or alcohol. This is one reason why most people that smoked it in the 70's were able to quit easily and not become addicts.\nLegalizing marijuana would make it safer for users. One of the main reasons why marijuana is unsafe right now is because it isn't regulated, and its quality isn't monitored by anyone. When people buy marijuana, they don't know for sure what they're getting or where it's been.\nThe government has no right to interfere with people's personal freedom as it is currently doing. Smoking marijuana only has the potential to hurt the health of the user. An individual should have the right to choose to use it. People are allowed to skydive, and drive cars. There are risks in those and many other activities, but the government isn't regulating them. Sure, smoking marijuana does put others at minimal risk through second hand smoke and the user's actions towards others, but this is also valid for alcohol and tobacco. This is why driving while stoned should remain illegal. \nIn my opinion it should also be restricted to adults over the age of 18.