Why is marijuana illegal?

[TheJesus89]

It shouldn't be illegal. The fact that is illegal, while much more dangerous substances (alcohol, computer cleaning equipment) are legal and widely available.


But it being illegal doesn't stop me from smoking it.
IMO people who are huge marijuana supporters are just as annoying as people who are against it. We get it, weed isn't dangerous. I swear to God if I listen to another fucking list of facts ran at me by a drug dealer I just met an hour ago I will go bananas.

And that's why it should be legal. So a fine, upstanding high schooler such as myself doesn't have to deal with smelly, creepy pot dealers.

EDIT:
I'm sure this has been addressed, but I don't really want to read the thread:

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't "hallucinate" after smoking pot. And it doesn't make you a worse driver. It does make driving more fun, believe me.

 

[atombeast707]

-snip-

i would like to say thank you for providing a concise and intelligent argument. nicely done sir, nicely done.

 

[NightHawk21]

Sorry, but I have to sound like a hipster for a sec.

It's because powerful investors in America years ago put money into tobacco crops and alcohol brweries. Marijuana was a competitor, and so they made it illegal. Pretty basic. Rich people protecting their status. It happens.

As for why it's till illegal? Same reason. Especially now that it is proven that weed kills less people. A less dangerous drug like weed would sell much, much more than tobacco and alcohol would.

Although I haven't done any research in corporate conspiracies such as you mention in your first point, it seems plausible enough that I suppose it may have happened.

As for your second point, I think you are severely underestimating the tobacco and alcohol industries. Let me make it abundantly clear that there is no way in hell legalized marijuana would outsell alcohol and tobacco. The fact that alcohol has been pretty much an accepted part of society for thousands of years and as such has years of essentially what I suppose you might call familiarity going for, where as marijuana has had no such great societal backing and as such would would likely elicit a sort of discomfort in your older generation consumers (your main demographic - 30+) (btw even if pot was legalized you would still have to be the age of majority at least to legally procure it). As such it would probably take about 10-30 years for sales to really rise as the product becomes more commonplace and generations grow up with it as a norm. As for tobacco, you do certainly realize that cigarettes are tremendously addictive, more so than alcohol or marijuana, leading to a steady consumer growth. In addition, they're lack of immediate side effects (getting drunk in the case of alcohol, or getting high in the case of marijuana) allows them to be consumed at relatively anytime even at work. Taking into account that cigarettes can technically be consumed at any time you want with no short term repercussions and that people can easily go through a pack or two a day, it also seems unlikely that marijuana sales would surpass that of tobacco.

 

[atombeast707]

snip
Please read my other posts on this thread. All of them. Think of it as a treasure hunt ;P
P.S. It seems a little unfair to judge the entirety of my intelligence based on one post from one topic, considering that it's a topic that I don't feel very strongly about. And since I don't feel very strongly about it, I won't be spending my time on Netflix watching a movie about marijuana, when I could be watching "Dude, Where's My Car" . . . wait a minute. ;P

ok i would like to apologize for my comment, i had not seen any of your other posts at the time, and one of my strongest pet peeves is when someone makes a stupid comment on what the effects of weed are. also, i was strictly attacking your comment, not your intelligence as a whole.

i was being a bit blunt, and im sorry for that, but your comment was still stupid, by my standards. but youve seemed to have learned (at least partially) your lesson, so its ok

 

[Zabriskie Point]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't seem to know much about marijuana.

1. Marijuana doesn't kill your brain cells.

2. Marijuana is not a hallucinogen.

 

[Zing]

You don't "hallucinate" after smoking pot. And it doesn't make you a worse driver. It does make driving more fun, believe me.

Wtf, no. Weed definitely impairs your driving ability. Do not smoke pot and drive..

 

[Uszi]

But what are the differences. If its decriminalized, would that mean its not illegal or is it just not enforced or what.
Also, DUI does mean Driving Under the Influence and that infulence is not limited to alcohol. You can be charged with DUI if you've taken too many of anything. And, DUI's are mostly up to the cop's disgression. Most cop will admitt that they've pulled over people who were blowing under .05, so a feild subriety test should be enough to really determine how high the person is.

Decriminalized generally refers to removing criminal penalties regarding possession for personal use. It would remove mandatory minimum sentences for those who are arrested with only enough for personal use. Right now in the U.S., you're generally subject to at least a fine for having only a few grams of cannabis on you (read, 1-2 joints). And if you have a few grams your facing misdemeanor charges. If you have 20-30 grams or so the you start facing felony charges, depending on your state. For instance, you could be charged with a felony in the state of Illinois if you had 1 ounce of cannabis on you[footnote]http://www.millerandpughlaw.com/Drug-Crimes/Possession-of-Cannabis-Felony.shtml[/footnote]. We're talking, fucked for life, can't get a real job felony charges. We're talking jail time, for 1 ounce of pot in Illinois (just a random example, FYI).

In the U.S., most cannabis related arrests involve personal possesion and not dealing/growing:

According to the most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, police arrested 847,864 persons for marijuana violations in 2008. Of those charged with marijuana violations, 754,224 were charged with possession only. The remaining 93,640 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that does not differentiate for cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. Marijuana arrests now comprise about one-half (49.8 percent) of all drug arrests reported in the United States.[footnote]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_the_United_States#Crime[/footnote]

If cannabis were decriminalized, it would remain illegal to grow or distribute commercial quantities of cannabis. And, like you said, it remains illegal to operate a vehicle under the influence of any drug.

I'd say it's a pretty fair middle ground between legalization and our current cluster fuck of a system. It addresses most complaints, without making conservatives think they are sending society into some sort of irrecoverable tail spiral. And it's probably a more realistic target, if you want to appeal to independent voters.

It also means a whole lot fewer people in prison, which is a win in my book.

 

[godofallu]

its illegal yet cigarettes and alcohol kill alot more than marijuana does.

Probably because it gets you high.

 

[nklshaz]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't seem to know much about marijuana.

1. Marijuana doesn't kill your brain cells.

2. Marijuana is not a hallucinogen.

Yes, I've already been informed of this. If it's any consolation, I don't feel strongly either way about the subject. That's why I was previously so ignorant about it, because it wasn't something I really cared about, so I wasn't feeling motivated to do much research. (My bad) Ultimately, if I absolutely had to pick a side, I'd rather it stayed illegal. It's not like I'll be losing any sleep if it's legalized. I don't plan on using it, so it shouldn't affect me. It probably will get legalized in the future, since at the moment it's mostly just a government scapegoat. (I still believe that there are bound to be some negative effects from it, but nothing worth shitting myself in fear over.)

 

[ShindoL Shill]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

alcohol harms brain cells and people can still drive drunk. if you know who buys weed you can put warnings on the packages and advertise about dangers of drug-driving. plus it actually becomes a controlled substance. you cant tell who's bought weed if you dont track it.

 

[Raddra]

I see a lot of conflicting opions about..

All I know is that my nephew smoked it and maybe still does (no contact with him much anymore) and after smoking it for around three years he slurred every sentence, took several seconds for things to sink in and was just generally stupid.

I don't know if it kills brain cells, but it had a very real effect on him.

 

[spartan231490]

Not that this hasn't been done time after time, but here is my opinion. It's illegal, because they can't make money on it. Yes yes yes, everybody says we should just tax it, but that's not as easy as that. Marijuana grows much easier than tobacco, it's too easy to grow on your own, meaning that if they tried to tax it up to the level they did with cigarettes, people wouldn't buy it and would just grow it themselves, or buy from individual dealers. It's also less addictive, so people wouldn't buy as much as often, so even if you could tax it, you wouldn't make much money on it. And lastly, we don't have any of the infrastructure you would need to grow it in mass and distribute it. Not to mention regulating it to make sure nobody is selling grass clippings in a bag. That type of infrastructure is expensive to create, and would take a long time to implement, so it's not a quick way to make a lot of cash for the government.

It should probably be legal(IMO) because I think people should be free to make their own choices about what they put in their bodies. but they can't make the same money off it that they can off cigarettes and alcohol. Same reason they don't legalize any of the hard drugs. All the lawsuits would offset the revenue of taxes and then some.

Alcohol has been a primary way of increasing morale among the populace for decades, and alcohol DOES NOT KILL PEOPLE. Stupid people kill people when they get drunk and decide to drive, or when they decide to drink enough alcohol to get 4 people hammered out of their minds. It's addictive, but not anywhere near as much as cigarettes, and the number of people who die of alcohol addiction are very very low. Especially when compared to the number of people who drink. Ok, so it does kill some people, but not many.

 

[Navvan]

That doesn't prove it's physically addictive. I had headaches and lost my appetite after my gf broke up with me. Even worse when my Uncle died. Physical addiction is when there is a pathophysiological disturbance. His was just hormonal, he felt kinda sad.

An abnormal hormonal or any chemical balance is pathophysiological. I will admit that I do get confused at the distinction sometimes as everything psychological can be traced to physical causes. I'd also like to mention that it is also very common to have a physical reaction to a mental state. That's why placebos exist. I always understood psychological addiction being an ever present desire to do something, and physical dependance to be anything that was physically symptomatic.

In either case I would say that the presence of a physical effect (tension induced headaches, naseua, and lack of appetite) constitute physical dependence.

Of course you are right that it doesn't prove, or even support, that its physically addictive as it was only anecdotal evidence. However additional evidence.

http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/health-topics/alcohol-and-drugs/marijuana-addiction-and-other-issues.shtml

http://www.nhtsa.gov/People/injury/research/job185drugs/cannabis.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3131789

Of course the same can be said for caffeine as shown in the last link. I give that example to both show that its not really out of the question for a relatively harmless drug to create physical dependence and to make clear I'm not using it as an argument against the use of marijuana. Just trying to clear up misconceptions. Feel free to correct me with a credible definition of psychological addiction and physical addiction. The ones I found were all similar to what I described.

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't seem to know much about marijuana.

1. Marijuana doesn't kill your brain cells.

2. Marijuana is not a hallucinogen.

Yes, I've already been informed of this. If it's any consolation, I don't feel strongly either way about the subject. That's why I was previously so ignorant about it, because it wasn't something I really cared about, so I wasn't feeling motivated to do much research. (My bad) Ultimately, if I absolutely had to pick a side, I'd rather it stayed illegal. It's not like I'll be losing any sleep if it's legalized. I don't plan on using it, so it shouldn't affect me. It probably will get legalized in the future, since at the moment it's mostly just a government scapegoat. (I still believe that there are bound to be some negative effects from it, but nothing worth shitting myself in fear over.)

It does actually fall under the classification of hallucinogen, but most people have a misconception of what a hallucinogen is. Hallucinogens do not necessarily cause hallucinations, few actually do, but rather are categorized as causing a change in consciousness, emotion, or perception.

 

[nklshaz]

Good point. I really don't feel too strongly about the subject, so whatever happens is fine with me. Your logic about being able to properly track it if it were legalized is nearly impossible to ignore. It's would probably be the biggest pro if it was legalized. There are bound to be some cons, but nothing losing any sleep over.

 

[stutheninja]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason.

I'd really like to see the source of your allegation the cannabis directly kills brain cells, because i think you are just talking out of your ass on that sir, there are actually studies that starting to show an increase in brain power as a result of ingesting THC, here are my sources

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/126/6/1252.short

http://budfacts.com/243/new-study-proves-that-marijuana-increases-brain-cell-formation/

EDIT: i realize the second article is from budfacts, however if you read into the study, it has merit, i chose budfacts because is provides a good overview

 

[Zabriskie Point]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't seem to know much about marijuana.

1. Marijuana doesn't kill your brain cells.

2. Marijuana is not a hallucinogen.

Yes, I've already been informed of this. If it's any consolation, I don't feel strongly either way about the subject. That's why I was previously so ignorant about it, because it wasn't something I really cared about, so I wasn't feeling motivated to do much research. (My bad) Ultimately, if I absolutely had to pick a side, I'd rather it stayed illegal. It's not like I'll be losing any sleep if it's legalized. I don't plan on using it, so it shouldn't affect me. It probably will get legalized in the future, since at the moment it's mostly just a government scapegoat. (I still believe that there are bound to be some negative effects from it, but nothing worth shitting myself in fear over.)

So, why exactly do you wish for it to stay illegal? I think that there's a lot of good that can come from it being legal. And yes, marijuana can be harmful, but only in the act of smoking it, because smoke in your lungs is harmful. It doesn't really have anything to do with the marijuana, because the smoke from anything would be just as harmful.

 

[spartan231490]

It shouldn't be illegal. The fact that is illegal, while much more dangerous substances (alcohol, computer cleaning equipment) are legal and widely available.


But it being illegal doesn't stop me from smoking it.
IMO people who are huge marijuana supporters are just as annoying as people who are against it. We get it, weed isn't dangerous. I swear to God if I listen to another fucking list of facts ran at me by a drug dealer I just met an hour ago I will go bananas.

And that's why it should be legal. So a fine, upstanding high schooler such as myself doesn't have to deal with smelly, creepy pot dealers.

EDIT:
I'm sure this has been addressed, but I don't really want to read the thread:

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't "hallucinate" after smoking pot. And it doesn't make you a worse driver. It does make driving more fun, believe me.

It drastically slows reflexes and impairs judgement. Those are the exact same reason alcohol makes people bad drivers. I don't care what you put in your body, but don't smoke and drive, it's stupid for so many reasons. If for no other reason than lowering the risk of getting caught by the cops, don't smoke and drive.

 

[nklshaz]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason. And legalizing it would increase the risk of people driving while hallucinating. While the effects may not be perceived as being "as bad" as cigarettes or alcohol, it still is bad for you, and we're probably better off without it.

You don't seem to know much about marijuana.

1. Marijuana doesn't kill your brain cells.

2. Marijuana is not a hallucinogen.

Yes, I've already been informed of this. If it's any consolation, I don't feel strongly either way about the subject. That's why I was previously so ignorant about it, because it wasn't something I really cared about, so I wasn't feeling motivated to do much research. (My bad) Ultimately, if I absolutely had to pick a side, I'd rather it stayed illegal. It's not like I'll be losing any sleep if it's legalized. I don't plan on using it, so it shouldn't affect me. It probably will get legalized in the future, since at the moment it's mostly just a government scapegoat. (I still believe that there are bound to be some negative effects from it, but nothing worth shitting myself in fear over.)

So, why exactly do you wish for it to stay illegal? I think that there's a lot of good that can come from it being legal. And yes, marijuana can be harmful, but only in the act of smoking it, because smoke in your lungs is harmful. It doesn't really have anything to do with the marijuana, because the smoke from anything would be just as harmful.

I'm just a little apprehensive about it because some of these studies seem a little inconclusive. Information has shifted from one side to the other throughout the years, and I'd like all the information to be firmly pinned down. Also, the gateway drug theory. It could easily be false, but it would be rather scary if it were real. Again, I'm not heavily concerned with the outcome. The decision I came to only won out by a very thin margin.

 

[nklshaz]

The fact that it directly kills brain cells is the main reason.

I'd really like to see the source of your allegation the cannabis directly kills brain cells, because i think you are just talking out of your ass on that sir, there are actually studies that starting to show an increase in brain power as a result of ingesting THC, here are my sources

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/126/6/1252.short

http://budfacts.com/243/new-study-proves-that-marijuana-increases-brain-cell-formation/

EDIT: i realize the second article is from budfacts, however if you read into the study, it has merit, i chose budfacts because is provides a good overview

Some old studies. (Which I have been informed are false) I'm not really interested in the subject or the outcome, so I haven't bothered keeping up. Also, please read all of my other posts on this thread (And if I really did manage to talk out my ass, I'd expect people to be impressed rather than irritated ;P )