How come its okay for children to put up with secondhand cigarette smoke but marijuana is illegal?
915175
If you hadn't added all the additional details....  Aye.\n\nAnyway!\n\nThis is a very good question, and goes along with mine about why it's okay to let patients and visitors smoke on hospital grounds.  It's NOT okay. \n\nPeace.
217515
Actually, marijuana contains cancer-causing agents too. It is not legal in Amsterdam per se, but the laws that prohibit it are not enforced in the 'coffee shops". They'll still bust you if you walk down the street smoking it. They figure its a better idea to tax it and keep it under controlled circumstances than prohibit it and fill up the jails with non-violent offenders.
360368
we have a smoking ban in my state. if it had taken place a year and a half ago I would have been really mad. but I dont smoke anymore, so it does not effect me. now I just think about my kid. I dont want to go to a resteraunt and have my kid sit it all of the cigarette smoke. I think that if there are plenty of areas that smokers can go to smoke, then it is ok. but to not be considerate of them too is rude and I view it to be an infringements on your rights.
818273
Society defines what is acceptable drug use and what is abuse. It does not have to make sense because its all wrapped up in the politics of drugs. \n\nMixing drugs isn't really abuse its just stupid, which has no cure other than when the stupid manage to kill themselves. Using a minor drug like marijuana to control pain may be illegal but it is not abuse. Using marijuana to get high is drug abuse, so is using alcohol to get drunk.
14446
Alot of people smoke pot. Lawyers, Doctors, teachers, maybe even the cashier at your local grocery. Im not saying that all of them do but there is no doubt a small percentage. Alot of bad propaganda has been forced on to pot. Its not for everyone and sure isn't for young teens. But lots of research show that the properties of marijuana can help prevent cancer cells and doesn't kill nearly half as much brains cells as alcohol. As for safety, there will unfortunatly always be risk involved when using an illegal drug because of legality and such. And since pot is the least addictive in the narcotic list, any other drug could surely pose a serious risk to your health and life.
790151
I guess it would depend on what they were smoking.  Cigarettes are not 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.
772400
I'm not a smoker nor do i like cigarette smoke:\n\nhow close do you live to this person? You make it sound like he/she is walking up to your windows and blowing it in. There is nothing you can do about it. It is still their legal right to smoke in their house or on their property. Unless you are window to window with this person i think you are being a bit ridiculous. That person has every right to live there. I dont think there is a problem to address to your neighbor. You just seem like one of those unbearable neighbors that nothing makes them happy.\n\nSecond hand smoke is just as bad as doing it yourself but once again unless you are window to window or he is blowing it in your windows i think your kids will be just fine. I mean do you expose your kids to other things in life that arent so healthy? Sugar,mcdonalds,tv??????
856871
You need to check your research (Oh, you didn't do any?  Wow); marijuana is far more harmful than tobacco.  Just the smoke alone is way more detrimental to your body than conventional cigarettes.  And furthermore, pot impairs your judgement; tobacco does not.  Personally I don't care if marijuana is legalized, but to say cigarettes are more harmful is just foolish, which would make sense, since you're a fool.  But why am I even telling you this?  You'll just Best Answer whoever agrees with you the most, regardless of how convincing their answer even is.
479727
Secondhand smoke contains twice as much tar and nicotine per unit volume as does smoke inhaled from a cigarette. It contains 3X as much cancer-causing benzpyrene, 5X as much carbon monoxide, and 50X as much ammonia. Secondhand smoke from pipes and cigars is equally as harmful, if not more so.\n\nSecond hand smoke is a toxic cocktail consisting of poisons and carcinogens. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in second hand smoke; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens.\n\nWhen a cigarette is smoked, about half of the smoke is inhaled / exhaled (mainstream smoke) by the smoker and the other half floats around in the air(sidestream smoke).\n\n No one should be forced to breathe in air tainted with cigarette smoke.
991949
I bet there's nothing illegal about it. They say it's "herb" that you can smoke, they never say specifically what kind of "herb".
506779
The dangerous affect that come from second hand cigarette smoke are mostly the result of the tar present in cirgarettes (yes nicotene may have a slight effect, but I have never heard of widespread nicotene addiction from second hand smoke) There are other minor chemicals but most of the damage to the physical system I believe happens because of tar (though I have no scientific proof to back this up, because I don't feel like looking for it)\nTar is also formed when marijuana is smoked, however I do not know the relative quantities between tar formed from burning tabacco vs. burning cannibus, so I do not know which is more dangerous.  There is an increased risk of getting lung cancer from smoking weed, however scientists don't yet know if there is an higher or lower probability of lung cancer between the two, probably because in most places where they can do the research, it is illegal to do the research.  \nI do think that the chances of a second hand high are a lot higher with marijuana then with cigarettes, however, I do not think there is any increase in the chance of addiction.
1085057
Its not illegal in Alaska but you can only have a certain amount and minors arent allowed any. Maybe if weed was legal in iowa we wouldnt be the effin meth capital of the world!
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.
1185556
My husband and I watched the Surgeon General on TV the other  day talking about the new reports on second hand smoke from cigarettes.  He made the comment that it is a toxic and deadly killer...we both said at the same time, then why is it legal?\n\nI think alcohol can be used in moderation without harm, so lets keep that party going,\n\nI have a cop friend who says marijuana is the biggest waste of his time.  He hates having it illegal, said it's a joke.  I agree.  Besides, didn't they just prove that the smokers of pot have a LESS chance of lung cancer...?  \n\nI say, no smoking...unless it's a joint!  :)
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...
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