Should Marijuana be illegal?
821015
Yes, and it should be taxed and regulated like alchohol.
736693
I agree. I don't smoke marijuana but think it should be legalized. Think of how much money the government would save/make.\n1 The government spends loads of money to try and prevent people from using marijuana. With advertisements and all.\n2 the government has to spend tax money to build new prison's, because so many people get arrested for possession.\n3 Government could tax it similar to how they tax tobacco and alcohol, so they could potentially make Millions maybe even more.\n4 police could spend time actually helping people rather than trying to bust people for smoking a little marijuana every now and then.\n5 could create new jobs and stimulate the economy with people buying and selling.
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.
759494
in my opinion, marijuana is a natural plant, not like most of the stuff we eat today (which has a bunch of unnatural stuff in it to preserve it). so i dont think there is anything wrong with it, but everyone has their own opinion
272721
absolutely not. i think that it should and may even already be illegal. however, everyone has their own opinions.
591400
c - d - e - f\n\nShould never have been illegal to start with, just got that way because of Hearst publications resenting the hemp industry back in the 1930s
853053
A little known and forgotten fact: Marijuana wasn't illegal until the 1930's during Prohibition when booze was made illegal.\n\nBooze kills brain cells, where grass only puts them to sleep for awhile and relaxes the person.\n\nI say if she isn't pushing this onto others, then it should be her choice.  Only advise her that if she has too much in her possession,and gets caught is is still illegal.
720841
Many 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\nRacism \nFear \nProtection of Corporate Profits \nYellow Journalism \nIgnorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators \nPersonal Career Advancement and Greed \nThese are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.\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, including Wyoming (1915), Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska (1927). These laws tended to be specifically targeted against the Mexican-American population.\n\nWhen Montana outlawed marijuana in 1927, the Butte Montana Standard reported a legislator's comment: "When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff... he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies." In Texas, a senator said on the floor of the Senate: "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy."\n\nJazz and Assassins\n\nIn the eastern states, the "problem" was attributed to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marijuana and jazz traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marijuana became an indispensable part of the music scene, even entering the language of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstrong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag").\n\nAgain, racism was part of the charge against marijuana, as newspapers in 1934 editorialized: "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice." \n\nTwo other fear-tactic rumors started to spread: one, that Mexicans, Blacks and other foreigners were snaring white children with marijuana; and two, the story of the "assassins." Early stories of Marco Polo had told of "hasheesh-eaters" or hashashin, from which derived the term "assassin." In the original stories, these professional killers were given large doses of hashish and brought to the ruler's garden (to give them a glimps
95932
I could not possibly agree more with you. People are so reluctant to legalize marijuana because it has such a bad reputation. Of course, it gets that reputation because it is illegal and people pass judgment on it based solely on that fact. If you stop looking at the actual legality of it and just think about it morally it is a vice no worse than many others that americans find perfectly acceptable. Anything can be abused. People abuse alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, gambling and countless things which are perfectly legal and socially acceptable, but somehow so many people think smoking weed is just wrong.\nI can hardly see how continuing to make it illegal will benefit anyone. It only allows drug dealers to set the standards of production/regulation etc. all the while evading taxes. Making it illegal probably does not really curtail the use of the drug either. Did prohibition curtail the use of alcohol? nope. did it increase crime? yes.\nLegalize it and regulate it. Everyone wins. The potheads won't have to worry about getting locked up. The government can make some more cash. And we won't continue to whaste our time prosecuting potheads and enforcing rediculous laws that combat marijuana use at the expense of taxpayer's dollars.\n\naside from these reasons, weed just isn't that bad. It is not physically addictive (as is alcohol/tobacco), it does not have the reputation of making people violent/abusive (as does alcohol), it is not as closely associated with recklessness (as is alcohol) and when was the last time you threw up or had a hangover from smoking some weed? never.\n\nLegalize it!!
376403
yes, this is a good idea because peoples health will be better and those who dont smoke will not suffer from second hand smoking. my mother smokes and it bothers me a lot because of the diseases and other problems she can get just from smoking. Also because since all the other drugs such as pot is illegal smoking is also a drug therefore it too should be illegal.
220673
Thjey should be, legal or illegal.
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.
255195
I don't think it should be legal, we got enough potheads in America, although I think the punishment for possession should be less serious.
581200
I say no for three reasons.\n\nOne: It's harmful to others. Anything that gives off smoke not only harms the user, but those around him. If its illegal, people won't use it in public, and it won't be as harmful to those not wishing to use it\n\nTwo: It impairs judgement. We have enough stupid decisions. And as for people who say that so does alcohol, marijuana has a much more permanent effect on judgement than alcohol.\n\nThree: It debilitates the workforce. People on Marijuana are unmotivated, generally. That's not a good thing for society.\n\nAnd as for those people who claim its for medical use, there is a prescription drug that is concentrated THC, so there's no need to legalize marijuana plants. \n\nThat's my two cents.
639145
War and taxes are illegal; marijuana shouldn't be.
1158208
I think it should be illegal, unless you are caught doing something illegal.
211900
The fact is that scientists have no way to duplicate the medicinal effects of marijuana. Unlike cigarettes, studies have shown that there is only one type of person that gets 'hooked' on pot... for some reason, those predisposed to alcoholism are prone to marijuana addiction, too.\n\nGovernment/Pharmaceutical Conspiracies aside, there is no reason in the world that marijuana should be any more illegal that alcohol or cigarettes. Cigarettes would be illegal now if it were not for the taxes that the government takes in. But, that is another question to ask...