Why is marijuana so illegal and cigarettes are one of the main cause of cancer and other sickness.?
605014
Marijuana is illegal for political reasons. It has nothing to do with safety.
343696
Well I think cigarettes are much worse than weed. They are full of toxic chemicals like tar & nicotine. At least weed is just pure plant. Isn't it?\nAnyways, I think it could possibly be made legal but be heavily taxed to deter use. If people want to rot their brains & become semi-retarded then that's their perogative.\nI know a guy who is really stupid & has slurred speech because he smokes pot.
167333
Yes smoking cause cancer.
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.
953956
Why don't we just legalize murder and fraud and robbery and rape.  Smoking Marijuana is illegal and just because millions do it desn't make it right.  Millions of people around the world supported the 911 attacks, does that make them rifght?  Crime is crime and people who commit it should be punished.  Lock up the crinials who use, grow and/or sell marijuana.
305270
Studies have shown that one "average" sized joint packs the same amount of toxins as an entire pack of cigarettes.  You can actually get lung disease faster (much faster) by smoking weed than by smoking cigarettes.\n\nWeed does actually cause lung cancer, asthma and emphysema as well as COPD.\n\nFor a rush, just stop smoking for a few days then do it again.  Whew!\n\nDo people honestly think pot is grown without the use of chemicals and pesticides???  DUH!  Unless you're paying absolute TOP DOLLAR, you're getting chemicals.  And if you are paying top dollar, all that resin is going in your lungs...or stomach.
1177670
It should never have been made illegal in the first place. For info on WHY it was made illegal, I recommend the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer. Of course, you can also just google "marijuana prohibition" too.\n\nYes, it is a drug, but so is caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, etc...\n\nLaws prohibiting certain substances should be based on facts and the inherent danger to the individual of the substance in question, not ideology or narrow-minded morality.\n\n-Pot is non-toxic, i.e. it is IMPOSSIBLE to overdose.\n-Pot does NOT cause cancer. The active psychotropic chemical in it, THC, has been shown in studies to inhibit the growth of tumors and to destroy existing tumors by cutting off the blood supply to them.\n-Pot is not physiologically addictive. It can be psychologically addictive, but so can sex, chocolate, sugar, etc.... There are just a certain percentage of people who take EVERYTHING to the extreme and have addictive personalities which lead them to overuse/abuse pot.\n-Pot does not lead to the use of harder drugs inasmuch as there is a causal relationship between its use and the use of harder drugs. Very few people (less than 10%) of people who use marijuana go on to use harder drugs. The gateway theory has been thoroughly discredited in recent years but many still cling to it as a pillar of anti-drug rhetoric.\n-Pot makes people more mellow and relaxed, whereas a legal drug like alcohol typically causes irrational, aggressive and even violent behavior in certain people.\n-The negative health effects of smoking pot can be negated by using a device known as a vaporizer which heats the herb to the point of vaporizing its active components without combustion. It can also be cooked into certain foods or made into a beverage.\n-Studies show little or no long-term damage in the brains of even heavy long-term users. The negative effects (short-term memory loss, motor impairment, etc.) are temporary and only last as long as the high itself.\n-It brings creativity, insight, relaxation, pain relief, sleep for insomniacs and a whole host of other positive effects to its users. Can the same be said for alcohol or tobacco?\n-It has been shown to induce a process known as neurogenesis in the brain. Literally, the creation of new neurons and a strengthening of connections between exisiting neurons which may account for the profound insights and philosophical thoughts it brings to many users.\n\nTo sum up, pot is perhaps one of the safest psychotropic substances known to man and the laws prohibiting its use are based on lies, fabrications, misunderstanding and stereotypes which are still far too common in this country as a result of its demonization by the powers that be for the last 70 years.\n\nLegalize it! Regulate and tax it! Stop treating pot smokers like criminals! Support organizations working to end pot prohibiton like NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance, et al.
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
484036
Smoking, whether it is in the form of cigarettes, bidi, cigar or hookah, is a form of nicotine addiction. All of them are harmful. It can cause cancer and damages the lungs and the respiratory tract.\n\nCigarette smoking is a major cause of preventable deaths worldwide. On an average, people who smoke die 5 to 8 years earlier than people who dont smoke. Tobacco users, and people who live with smokers, have nearly all cases of lung cancer. Their risk of developing throat, mouth, oesophageal, pancreatic, kidney, bladder, and cervical cancer is several times greater than for people who are not regularly exposed to tobacco smoke. Smoking is the major cause of emphysema, a debilitating lung disease which slowly destroys a persons ability to breathe normally. Smoking is especially hazardous for people with heart disease, blood vessel disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or a family history of these diseases.\n\nSmokers, and those living with smokers, have a two times greater risk of fatal heart disease. Smoking also increases the risk of having a stroke. Women, especially those over 35 years old, who take birth control pills and smoke have an increased risk of stroke or heart attack. Increased blood pressure is another danger of smoking. Smoking also decreases HDL (the good cholesterol) levels. Smokers and people living with them have a two to three times greater chance of having peptic ulcers. Smokers also have a greater than average risk of hip, wrist, and fractures of the spine. In addition, smoking also complicates sleep disorders. Smokers also tend to get colds and other respiratory tract infections more often than nonsmokers.\n\nTobacco smoke is dangerous to nonsmokers. Exposure to the smoke, also called passive smoking, increases the risks of nonsmokers getting the same problems as smokers. A nonsmoker in a very smoky room for 1 hour with several smokers inhales as many bad chemicals as he would inhale by actually smoking 10 or more cigarettes himself.\n\nSmoking affects pregnant women and their unborn children. Smoking mothers have a greater risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. Children born to women who smoke have lower birth weights on average. They also have more frequent respiratory infections, a higher risk of chronic ear infections and asthma, and less efficient lung function. Children of smokers usually become cigarette smokers themselves. The more cigarettes a person smokes each day, the greater the risk of disease. Cigar and pipe smokers are at the same risk for cancers of the mouth, lip, larynx, and oesophagus as cigarette smokers. Fortunately, when a smoker stops smoking many of these risks decrease. Users of snuff or chewing tobacco (smokeless tobacco) increase their risk of cancer of the mouth. The mouth cancer can develop relatively quickly, within 10 to 15 years of the first use of snuff or chewing tobacco.
151221
Marijuana is worse for you than cigarettes cause it's green (not dried up) and you don't use a filter. But you usually smoke less of it, so it balances out.\n\nyou could smoke rolled up newspapers or dried up cabbage and it would also be bad for you.
242366
They are both very bad for your health. Both cause cancer. Socially, I would say smoking is worse because everyone else has to inhale your smoke as well. However spitting that nastimess in front of people is plain disgusting!
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.
958390
i would say the cigarettes i hate peeps that dont know about pot acting like they are experts on the subject  cigarettes are way higher in carcegins due to all the chemicals that are added to them like amonium chloride, and cyanide , lets not forget the gun powder the ciggy companies add to the paper so it stays lit cigarettes contain over 160 carcigens so the person who said the ciggies is wrong wrong wrong goto www.phillipmorris.com or www.norml.com and u can find information regarding these issues also marijuania has been shown to slow the progression of alziemers so put that in your pipes and smoke it
127802
everything is done for a reason. It all comes down to money.\nThis country makes allot of money on the illegal stuff. \nLook if it was legal it would put allot of people out of business. Just like there are cures for cancer. But we can't know that because people would lose there jobs.
1021616
marijuana is the most commonly uses illegal substance in the United States. it is used by many people, most of which aren't your stereotypical "druggie", with no life agead of them. Many of them hapen to be very successful, good people. Think about it almost if not every person who reads this paper will know (even if they don't realize it) at least one if not several regular users of marijuana. Its often made out to be much more harmful htan it really is, unfortunatly not every one realizes this. \n\nWhat many people don't realize is marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet it's the one of the three that gets a bad rap and is illegal. Marijuana isn't even physicaly addicting. You certanly don't see meetings for marijuana like you do with alcohol and AA. Unfortunatly due to American culture the less harmful of the three is illegal.\n\nThe most common reason why marijuana can be harmful is that people can often come across laced marijuana without realizing it. Marijuana can easily be mixed with other more harmful drugs with out the buyer realizing it, until they have already used it. This is a dangerous thing that causes many people to do more harmful, hard core drugs without realizing it. If it were to be legalized the government could provide guide lines, like it does with alchol  to insure that people knew what they were putting into their bodies.\n\nMarijuana actually has many helpful benefits toward diseases / sicknesses. Marijuana can reduce nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by AIDS. It can Reduce interlobular pressure, which alleviates the pain and slowing and sometimes even stopping the progress of glaucoma. Common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, all of which marijuana would help. It can limit muscle pain and relieve tremor nad unsteadiness of gait for multiple sclerosis patients. Marijuana can help prevent epileptic seizures in some patients. It can also alleviate chronic, often debilitating pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries. Each one of these applications have been deemed legitimate by at least one United States court, legislature, and/or government agency.\n\nDue to these reasons and many others many people are going to jail/prison on a daily basis due to simply smoking a little pot These aren't dangerous criminals that would kill or rape someone. Many of them are teachers, lawyers and respected members of their communities. But yet we still pay thousands of dollars of tax payers money to lock up non dangerous "criminals" yearly even though most aren't going to stop after they get out of jail. Don't you think the money spent here is a waste? Couldn't it be going to more useful things such as hospitals, disease research, or better schools? These are the things that would benifit the people of this country. Certanily you would rather benefit the people more than throwing a non violent pot head in jail who was only trying to smoke a joint and relax after a long days work in jail. There is up to forty million regular (note thats just the regular not occasional users) drug users in the United states. If we were to throw all of them in jail it would cost $500,000 per million people, plus the cost and space of building many more prisons. Couldm't that money be spent on building hospitals? There's already about 1.5 million people tax payers are paying to keep in jail over drugs. From 1990 to 2003, nearly 5.9 million people had been arrested for smoking marijuana. Thats a greater number than the entire population of Alaska, Delaware, The District of Columbia, Montania, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. This country simply can't afford to put 40 million more in jail.\n\nMarijuana should be legalized. It has many uses such as helping sick patients. People are going to smoke it no matter what the government sais, and with out govenment guidelines this can b
1145321
Not only do I NOT think it's bad.  I think it's great.  I have been a heavy pot smoker since I was 12.  I graduated in the top of my class in high school, I graduated college at a university, I am 22, work for myself, and make almost $100K/year totally legal, and I'm working on my MBA.  My mom and aunts and uncles have smoked since they were in high school and all have very good jobs, families, and lives.  All my friends in college and right out of college have been smoking with me forever and are all doing great.  It is so much safer and healthier than alcohol.  Someone tell me what is bad about marijuana.  They have even found out recently that the THC actually fights off the cancer causing chemicals in marijuana, so it actually offsets itself as far as cancer goes.  Wow.  And people actually still live so far in the past and think weed is bad.  Come on now, crack is bad, not weed.
504301
I would cancel the law that made marijuana illegal.  It has so many beneficial uses for cancer patients, anorexics, and people who suffer from other ailments.  It's a shame that truly sick people have to buy it off of the black market just for some relief.