what is the reason why marijuana is illegal?
914115
The first step in drug addiction is picking up a cigarette.  \n\nMJ is NOT a narcotic.  \n\nMJ is NOT physically addictive.  \n\nMJ is FAR less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes\n\nMJ destresses the body, which is good for the heart and a few dozen other parts of the body.  \n\nWhy it's illegal dates back to 20's and 30's, and every argument the lawmakers gave had a racist slant to it.  That's why it became illegal.  \n\nIt remains illegal today because Pharma and alcohol lobbiest want it to remain illegal.  \n\nThey don't want you drug free, they just want you doing THEIR drugs that put massive amounts of dollars into THEIR pockets.  If you could grow your own, you'd be FAR less likely to run to the 7-11 to get a sixer.
366841
Could that be because it's illegal?
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.
434337
Well in a free society, where your freedom ends where mine begins, there is no justification for banning marijuana at all. You know all the arguments. People die from alcohol, while nobody has ever died from marijuana. Marijuana does not normally cause violent mood swings as alcohol often does. There are dozens of good reasons to legalize it.\n\nAlso, if you legalize it, the DEA would be free to spend more resources stopping meth labs, and crack houses, and heroin, which are the drugs that truly damage society. There are millions of people in the USA who are chronic pot smokers. They'll never stop. They pay taxes, they obey the speed limit. They are not criminals, but criminals benefit from selling dope. Why not legalize it and put them out of business?\n\nI know many people who smoke marijuana on some level. Either every day, once a week, or maybe once a year. I know for a fact that the laws have nothing to do with their decision. Their 'pot-intake' would not change if it was legal.
382209
Marijuana is illegal because, unlike alcohol, when used even in moderation, it is mind-altering. And even though it has some medical benefits in certain circumstances, the FDA would never approve it due to the harmful side affects from it being an inhalant.\n\nIn layman's terms, one beer will not have a mind-altering affect on you while one toke from a joint will.
534478
a type of marijuana-it's illegal!
285966
The gov't believes that we would lose the war on drugs.  They also have no way of taxing the crops that are home grown.  So they wouldn't make that much money off of it.  They make more money having marijuana be illegal.\nCurrently in America 16% of adults smoke weed.  Currently in the Netherlands (where pot is legal) only 6% of adults smoke weed.\n\nThousands of people die from smoking cigarettes every day, so why is that legal, when marijuana, something that can't kill you is illegal.  Your statement doesn't make any sense, Man.\n\nCheck this out about common misconceptions of marijuana: \nwww.drugpolicy.org/ marijuana / factsmyths /
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!!
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.
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.
1035368
Marijuana, because it can be used to treat glaucoma patients and to alleviate certain types of pain, should be legal, provided that it does not cause uncontollable affects in the users for whom it might be prescribed.  Legalization could eliminate the abuse of this drug and the sale of it by "street pharmacists" who frequently add other dangerous chemicals to it and use unscrupilous sales tactics to dupe customers who cannot get it legally.  The fact that it is illegal makes it more tempting to some people who enjoy living on the edge.
450093
It is illegal because of racism,  corporate greed, and corrupt officials.  Here's the history (see first source)\n\nThere has never been a reported death from marijuana as it is physiologically impossible to have a lethal overdose from it (unlike aspirin and many other legal drugs).  While long term heavy smoking of marijuana can cause bronchitis and other lung conditions, it has also not been shown to cause cancer (although the smoke contains carcinogens, every study has shown no correlation between marijuana use and cancer).\n\nMarijuana does effect short-term memory and motor coordination, but this is not a long-term problem.  While driving under the influence of marijuana is not safe, it is safer than alcohol or fatigue.\n\nThe recent FDA statement about medical marijuana was based on trying to help the pharmaceutical companies who sell marijuana-based drugs like Marinol and Sativex.  Read any of the major newspaper editorials on the FDA statement and you'll see they were slammed for ignoring all the established science in favor of medical marijuana (and a group of Representatives in Congress are demanding an explanation from the FDA).
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.
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.
977188
Marijuana was legal when Prohibition went into affect and saw a rise in popularity as people sought an alternative  for the alcohol they couldn't get anymore. Two factors combined to make Marijuana illegal, one, the liquor industry that didn't want competition and the other was the bureaucracy set up to suppress alcohol found itself out of business once alcohol became legal again. When has any bureaucracy ever dismantled voluntarily? They just created a new boogie-man to suppress.
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.
52970
Pot is illegal because the War on Drugs is a cash cow for the government. And it also keeps undesirables - minorities, the poor, criminals - under control. It is a lot easier to bust a black kid with pot on him and get him convicted than a white kid. It's all part of the hate machine that our government's becoming.\nHey Figato - go ask your kids for a joint, smoke it, and chill the heck out man.