Why is marijuana illegal while cigarettes are legal?

it seems the name ‘funadvice’ copies over other people’s answers. What a crock.

“ Pot is illegal because it actually affects the way a person thinks, and therefore can cause the person to do things that they don’t really want to do. Cigarettes don’t do this, and therefore, cigarettes are legal, even though they are bad for peoples’ health. “

How about alcohol? The history of marijuana prohibition is well known. In fact, Marijuana was banned in part to give the alcohol prohibitionists at the FBI something to do.

Most violent crimes are associated with alcohol, not marijuana or even psychedelics.

People set out to to commit crimes and smoke weed tend to forget all about it. :)

On the other hand, James Watson discovered the double helix while high.

Our current “war on drugs” began by Nixon in 1971. Drug use was part of the counterculture that was also against our involvment in Vietnam. The war on drugs was really a war on hippies, freaks, and others against the war.since they were the people most likely to use recreational drugs.

The tobacco industry is more associated with conversativism. Tobacco farmers, processors, sellers, are generally all conservative. The Tobacco lobby gives generously to the Republican party.

Mariguana is associated with minorities, hippies, freaks, and war protestors. Tobacco is associated with Southern Conservatives. That is why pot is illegal and tobacco is legal.

because it impares your judgement. Their trying to take out the chemicle that makes you basicly high and then legalize it

The 2nd post “Editor”

Is dead on. Finally some uses intelligence to answer a problem.

its also a very effective pain relif

because pot is an addictive drug that can kill u…

it is because of nixon I am currently trying to get it legalized

I just want to say people I’m cool with the whole weeds totally ok and barley even unhealth argument but your shamming the whole pro marijuana movement when you say somthing as stupid as pot isn’t a drug, please everyone not all stoners are idiots, by the way nice answer editor , my personal opinion on the whole thing just having read a lot about the lack of negative health effects of marijuana and its positive health benefits is that marijiuana is safe fun and has only the usually ridiculous agruments against it where people just draw strange conclusions between health problems and personality traits of people being a result of smoking weed. I deffinently agree also that smoking is bad but its not very bad if your using untampered plant material I am willing to bet an ounce of beester that if everybody just smoked all natural organic localy grown tobbacco they could lead much much healthier lives as ciggarete smokers than they are now. It almost seems to me that marijuana was put on this earth to smoke it has anti-cancerous effects on the lungs and other parts of the body which I am sure help out way the most likly incredibly minimal cancerous effects of the smoke(I don’t actually know for a fact if these effects are minimal since I didn’t get that peice of info from an accredited sientist I am just drawing a conclusion from the 0 people whos death is atributed directly to marijuana smoking each year but hey you know what you do when you assume you make an asss out of you and me so if sombody wants to disagree than I’m open to that) . marijuana helps reduce flouride concentrations in our brain which is being fed to use through most local water supplies and is hindering the focus and cognitive function of us and our children and tainting our bodies. Theres even the well known health benfits like masking nausea symptoms and improving your mood. Now lets not talk only about the positives that would be way to biased, marijuana as most people know also reduces your immune systems efficiency, makes you have a somwhat fuzzy memory of events some times like if you get just way to stoned and your watching t.v. chances are later on you won’t remember every thing that happened or maybe one of the shows you watched but that happens to most people some times anyways, and yes the classic short term memory. I will vouch that it can make you kind of lazy at times to and I don’t think it would hinder my ability to drive for the most part but I agree that is could so I still wouldn’t while stoned. so if you enjoy inflicting self mutilation and having to take ten minutes to read the list of none plant ingredients in your smoke which are working together to eventully put you in an early grave than keep fighting for tobacco rights I hope you can still take solace in your bountiful maturity and resposibility when your huffing your last dieing breath in the terminal care unit.

Weed is illegal because the devil made it illegal. Richard Nixon was the devil

Because marijuana changes your personality and ability to react

ummm…could you repeat the question???

I ask myself that question all the time

because weed is a mind altering drug and ciggerettes aren’t I don’t smoke ciggs I have smoked hookah though but another reason is the government makes bank selling those and they wouldn’t even make near enough money if weed was leagal because so many people grow it and if it was leagel more people would grow it

Marijuana has 4 times the toxins than a normal cigarette. That means it kills 4 times as fast. If a person starts smoking at 15 and smokes and dies at 60, that means if they smoked marijuana, they would die at about 35. Read other more detailed answers for more.

who cares. that hasn’t stop anyone

ill have you know that marijuana is not addictive!!! although psychologically it may cause dependancy you must have a very weak will for that. the reason its not addictive is because nthe body does not experience withdraw symptoms after you stop smoking. and I belive it should be legal…just not allowed to be used while working…you say you wouldnt want your bus driver smoking a joint before he drives you…I agree just like I wouldnt want him drinking…theres a time and place for everything…and yet marijuana is way less harmful than either ciggs or alcohol!

Guys I say weed should be legal but with the restrictions of alchohal. so you can’t drive and you can’t have a gun and you can only smoke if your an adult.

“I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?”

Willie Nelson

to everyone saying that alcohol is also harmful, congrats, your right, it is damaging. I fail to see how this means we should legalize another harmful substance. Since your so worried about the harmful effects of alcohol, lets just make that illegal too.

Cigarettes are bad for your health. They contribute to various different types of cancers (notably of the oral and lung varitey), stokes, cadiovascular problems etc. However, they do not have a major impact on the way a person thinks as has been mentioned.

While I do agree alcohol is harmful, I do not agree that it is more harmful than canabis for several reasons. There are a lot of people who seem to believe it has no neurological impact, but unfortunately, yes it does and studies with model animals and developing foetus’s have shown this. More importantly, canabis does not just effect the person who chooses to smoke it, it effects everyone in the viscinity whereas alcohol is only directly affecting the person drinking it (unless said person does something stupid, I know…)

I know its really rather horrible of me, but I am so looking forward to the day where some of you people who are so convined canabis is not harmful need medication, only to find it has no affect because of the tolerance you built up with recreational drug use because you dont just increase your tolerance to the one drug.

On a side note, to pothead4200, there are infact more than two countried in the world were canabis is illegal, perhaps they are just the only countries you know. You also might be interested in knowing that the USA is not the richest country in the world, it comes in at number eight and the uk doesnt even make the list.

Oh, and the person who says you can fix anorexia with canabis to stimulate appetite? Ummm anorexia is more than just someone not wanting to eat, its a mindset. Whats to stop the person just vomiting it all up afterward when they realise what they’ve just done?

Cannabis makes you hallucinate? Really, you must be smoking some laced cannabis then.

Sleepiness Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car Increased heart rate Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease Bloodshot eyes Dry mouth and throat Decreased social inhibitions Paranoia, hallucinations Impaired or reduced short-term memory Impaired or reduced comprehension Altered motivation and cognition, making the acquisition of new information difficult Paranoia Psychological dependence Impairments in learning, memory, perception, and judgment - difficulty speaking, listening effectively, thinking, retaining knowledge, problem solving, and forming concepts

I’d like to see a similiar list of effects for OTHER DRUGS too, including Cocaine, Meth, Heroin, Alcohol, etc… Don’t tell me they don’t have bad effects too.

Also paranoia, anxiety, etc… COMES from IT being ILLEGAL, not because the drug causes these things itself.

Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car

These two are the most stupid things I’ve ever heard from an ignorant person who’s NEVER even tried cannabis themselves. In fact I’d rather hear someone WITH experience speak against it than someone that’s never tried it. I’ve smoked cannabis, it doesn’t do these things, reduce ability to perform tasks requiring concentration… pure and utter nonsense, it makes you focus MORE on what you are doing, that’s why the Jamaicans smoke it while they are working, it helps them concentrate on the task at hand. Reduced sense of time, well most hippies don’t wear watches now do they?

I’ve had it up to HERE with people telling me that a PLANT should be illegal. A PLANT! Something that grows! In the ground! We don’t make apples or banana’s illegal. And WHY this particular plant? Because it makes YOU feel good! OMG! Heaven forbid that we relax once in awhile.

honestly becease no body has ever presented a good enough case to congress to make them want to change. not until you can convince the goverment they will look good and make money doing it will it ever change. its all about politics and looking good. I have smoked pot before and its not going to ruin your life. there should be regulations on it like achohol and cigs but no there isn’t any good reasons why it has been banned and other drugs are legal. why would somebody risk there job trying to legalize weed when the class of people smoking it don’t fit what the politicans want. not until you get upper class opening smoking weed and actors and famous people wanting it legal will anything ever change. I have heard all the horror stories but life is about choices and if you want to blame your problems on weed or anything else grow up. its a plant for crying out loud so what. it makes you feel good and want to relax and maybe get hungry big deal. with other hardcore drugs they don’t cause that and the ones that do make you feel good normally kill you and don’t allow you to function right. I hate stupid people that go off about it when they don’t know what the hell they are talking about. the laws against it are based on lies and power and the goverment looking good. maybe I am wrong and if I am then please try and show me because the reasons for why its banned are stupid as f-ck

If you want to hit me up and debate some more my myspace is rainxtre@hotmail.com I love talking to people about issues on anything and everything

Marijuana is illegal because Hirst wanted a monopoly on newspaper production from wood pulp, and cannabis was a cheap alternative. In other words, it interfered with his newspaper monopoly. He got together with Dupont, which had a huge invested interest, because cannabis is also an alternative to cotton, which consumes most of the world’s agricultural chemical pesticides. Together, they used the services of Harry Anslinger, who gave a racist twist to the whole thing by blaming Mexican daylabourers and Black jazz musicians for corrupting white women with marijuana. And so it goes to this day - mandatory minimum sentences for rock form cocaine but not powdered form cocaine, selective enforcement of marijuana laws, etc.

As to the poster who listed all the ‘ill effects’ of marijuana use, that is just propaganda. (If you smoke weed AND snort coke, your blood pressure goes up? Who on earth combines weed with coke, to begin with?) Also, you don’t get 5 times more tar in you if you smoke weed. First of all, there are no smokers who just smoke one cigarette per day. They usually smoke a packet, which is 20-25 cigarettes. Secondly, even if sigarette smokers use filtered sigarettes, they don’t smoke from a bong, let alone vaporize.

Caffeine and tobacco are legal, because they make the masses work faster at the widget factory, while mj helps you look at the world and see it for what it really is. MJ gives you the satisfaction with life that most people only think they can achieve by working 10 hours a day and earning that holiday in the tropics. Now what would that do for productivity? ;)

Hemp itself is a great plant, one of nature’s little supermarkets. Seeds are nutricious, the fiber can be used to make paper (including the US Constitution, which was written on hemp paper), cloth for shirts, rope, etc. It requires very little fertilizer or pesticides to grow, and the same piece of land can be used year in and year out to grow the crop (unlike forrested land).

Cigarettes are legal because our country, which was founded on the slave-trade, has deep roots into the tobacco industry. And I believe someone pointed to conservatism in the south during that era, which is actually ironically mostly democrats at the time, but it was whole different political scene back then. Marijuana has long gotten a bad wrap in society, ever since the 20s when Reefer Madness was released by a religious group, if I remember correctly. The video is actually quite humorous alleging that pot would make you kill someone, but it fostered a very negative image on the drug, which was popular among Mexicans crossing the border back then. The criminalization of the drug allowed law enforcement to search Mexicans. That’s the racism aspect of it, at least in it’s inception. Nixon also had a large role in modern drug laws. Further encouraging discrimination of people who were deemed as part of a “counter-culture” movement. There are various medical reasons that suggest why marijuana should remain criminalized. Impairment of driving ability, in some subjects. Most pharmaceuticals in your parents drug cabinet probably have the same warning. As with any drug, you can build up tolerances to the effects. It has been said that it can affect your driving abilities. So can cell phones, loud noises, and the maturity of the person behind the wheel. As far accute panic anxiety disorder, that happens to first time smokers, or relatively “new to the game” smokers. It’s basically the best part of getting high, it’s just such a strong jolt that it freaks out most people who’ve never been “high” before. It’s considered the “roller coaster” around my way. But hell, i’ll go one step further into why it’s illegal. The south which also used slavery to foster Tobacco also fostered a Cotton industry. Hemp, the marijuana plant with a tiny THC percentage( enough so that it would not be worth smoking to a user), was hailed as the first ever Billion-Dollar crop, in an early 1900s Popular Mechanics if I recall correctly. It would’ve trumped Cotton. Politicians push the pens, that make us the pawns. It’s all about the greed, but hey, life isn’t fair, so why should America try to be? Right? lol

Personally I think that pretty much all the bases have been covered on the subject here. Some posts have been GREAT and offer good solid information. I agree with a lot of them. However, most of them have been completely retarded. I think we are focusing on WHY the drug is illegal too much here. The best answer I can come up with, seeing as how im not a politician or a doctor or a scientist, is that its illegal because our government says it is. As americans we just have to realize that our government doesnt always make sensable decisions. I myself am a daily marijuana user. I have seen a lot of positive and negative results from using the “drug”. Personally I will not leave my house after using the drug for at least 3 hours. I could not forgive myself for hurting someone else while on marijuana. Lets face it, be honest with yourselves, marijuana does impair your motor skills. otherwise why are we using it, other than medically? we use it because it gets us high. and like alcohol it should be used responsibly. its your body, do with it as you pleaase, lets just try to keep the consequences of the drug, whether positive or negative, to ourselves. why hurt other people with it. the plain and simple fact is the government says they dont want us to use it. personally I dont understand it. but all the “potheads” on here throwing out conspiracy theories are making people who use marijuana sound stupid, only adding to the stereotype!

But Marijuana is Better for You Than Cigarettes and Alcohol!

Shut your mary jane smokin' mouth, pothead!  It's not about your stupid health!  Go ahead and screw yourself up!  Last time I checked it wasn't against the law to DRINK POISON!

Marijuana Isn’t Addictive or Anything Like Real Drugs!

It still makes you STUPID!  This country is run by the PEOPLE, and if the people were MORONS, then we'd be totally SCREWED!  But it's also about what the drugs do to the people AROUND YOU!  Don't be a selfish idiot!  Drugs screw you up, and the result of you being screwed up can screw up a lot of other people's lives too, like friends and family and crap!  And if you're drivin' while flyin' high, or partaking in a buttload of OTHER various actions that involve HAVING A BRAIN, you could KILL SOMEONE!

But Alcohol is Legal! So Why Not Pot?

Because you're a FREAKIN' MORON!  If you weren't such a reefer rectum, you'd realize there IS a difference between drinkin' and doin' dope!  The purpose of drinking an alcoholic beverage (for smart people anyway) is NOT to get totally wasted!  And you can drink tastey alcholic beverages without getting smashed!  But the SOLE purpose of puffin' a blunt is to GET HIGH!  THAT'S why marijuana's illegal, THAT'S why it's worse than alcohol, and THAT'S why takin' drags from doobies all day makes you a 

Jeez, I’m sick of having to edit out “bad words”…

It’s controlled by the CIA. It’s the only way it gets into the country, that’s why there are better quality, more amount, and cheaper prices on drugs now and growing ever since the War on Drugs started. I suspect most of the billions a year spent on the “War on Drugs” is spent on farming and producing it. It’s outlawed because they can sell it tax free and have pure profit into agencies in the government to pay for ‘under the table’ operations. A good amount of that money is also kicked back into the stock markets to generate them even more money, tax and accountability free.

Why do you think Drug tests for Marijuana can find traces in a smoker that hasn’t smoked for a month? Yet a cocaine or heroine screening is only viable for the past 2-3 days? Because this “Gateway drug” as they’ve so cleverly named it, gets you into the scene, and if you want to get high and have a job, you’re better off using cocaine or heroine due to the lack of testing length. But then the problem with extreme addiction comes in. You’re then spending LOTS more money than you would on some pot here or there. Then if you want to get clean, you get to pay these same people for thousands of dollars of treatment. It’s all a scam from beginning to end, which is all pushed by our Government. The whole TV advertisements to ‘prevent drug use’ is more attracting and reminding to drug uses that they want to get high and use drugs. It’s all a circle of control, money collection, and population control.

What bothers me is that whenever someone answers the marijuana-vs-_ debate, you get two answers. One side frames pot as “safe” and should be legal. The other points out pot-heads who do nothing but become a drag on society and the people around them. What doesn’t seem to get pointed out, is that the IRRESPONSIBLE use of ANY drug can (and will be) harmful in some way. Pot’s ban may have been political, it may have been a well-intended law to protect the people. But the facts - based on my personal investigation with my own future, health, and mental state on the line - seem to point to the fact that direct effects on health are more severe in tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking than in pot smoking (much less pot eating via brownies or some other tasty treat). Why is Pot illegal? Not sure. My best guess is lack of all-encompassing fair education, and the closed-minded nature of conservatives who attach such a negative connotation to “marijuana”. Give it a try. Just ask Pete - you won’t die. Safest thing in the world! (by the way, you can, in fact, overdose on water before you can overdose on pot…)

The RESPONSIBLE use of ANY drug should be legal. No harm, No foul. Who agrees?

wow, I just read on your comments that the gov’t’s trying to make pot legal by taking out the THC. I’m not smoking no THCless pot. anyways, the stupid gov’t. Pot is a natural herb that God created here (and yes I’m a strong believer of christ and God. Anyways, the reason is this man back in the day blamed pot for the reason why he went out and slaughtered his parents. I guess it’s just like Video Games, I love them, but people are saying that video games are why they decide to go out and drive crazy/hurt people. So I dont understand why that’s not even illegal (and I’m glad it’s not) but when pot is. Also, everytime a cop gets someone for pot, they turn around, put it back on the streets, then catch that person they sold it 2, then will take that pot they were trying 2 sell, and smoke it. (that’s how it is here in Ga where I live) I actually smoked once w/ a cop off work, and he explained everything to me, he even wished it was legal, but said the crime rate would go up. I disagreed w/ him on that, b/c I dont see it hurting other countries. It does slow time down and you really shouldn’t drive while high, but then again you shouldn’t drive drunk either. I just dont understand why the USA is so hard on us when we’re “supposably” free.

“I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?

Willie Nelson”

Ok, I get the herb and flower thing cause of the plant. the point is there are a lot of other herbs and flowers but you don’t smoke them do you?I don’t it comes with please smoke labelled on it. I feel the same about tobacco.

As for why it is illegal and cigarettes aren’t, I believe it is more dangerous and maybe that is why the government prohibits it, that is what they drilled into us at school. I’d rather smoke cigarettes that pot. Plus I have never heard of anyone having severe hallucinations from smoking ciggarettes either. But since everyone seems to be doing it today I would rather make it legal cause then it would take all the fun out of it and people will do it less :-P

Hi,

Well, I’m studying public policy and there are two possible explanations. One is a lot more cynical than the other and involves a concept known as elite theory: the idea that the government and its policies are controlled by a small group of elites, who exercises control over masses for their own good.

Applied to cigarettes and pot, it can be noted that cigarettes are easily controlled and taxable. Pot however, has many different strands that are difficult to distinguish and tax. You could make the argument that cigarettes are just as lethal (if not moreso) than pot, but the government just wants to make money any way it can, so it keeps cigarettes legal to tax it.

A second theory is that cigarettes are legal because their place in our culture is firmly established and accepted as a norm, although an increasingly politically incorrect norm. “Street drugs” have negative connotation, and while marijuana may not be as harmful as cocaine or heroin, it has the same negative connotation.

That’s all I can come up with. Hope it helps.

it because they cant put a tax on pot so they cant sell it in stores this the only reason ok thanks rock out

I think I am going to have to be with Willie on this one..the government really has no right with saying God is wrong for creating a beautiful flower, it just works wonders and miracles for the body and soul and I think if they have there panties in such a bunch over this then let nature be nature should maple leaves be illegal cause they resemble marijuana plants so much? Uh I think not …because that would be stupid right..so I leave it right there you decide..

I know why the wont make it legal its because the goverment doesnt have a way to make a profit of weed if it becomes legal..if they make it legal pot smokers WILL grow it and if their growin itthe goverment wont make any sales ..if they do find a way to make a profit they will make it legal

Pot is illegal because it actually affects the way a person thinks, and therefore can cause the person to do things that they don’t really want to do. Cigarettes don’t do this, and therefore, cigarettes are legal, even though they are bad for peoples’ health.

People sometimes argue that pot should be legal because it is a plant, and it is natural. Well, that is true. It is a plant, so it is natural. But the act of setting a plant on fire and intentionally inhaling the smoke is absolutely NOT natural.

Yo some people are nutz with there thinking about good old grass. #1 who give a f* if it impairs you while driving. If your driving its no differant than a DUI. DONT DO IT. Just because you smoke doesnt meanyour going to go play bumper cars on the highway. I bet if you took a pole of most grass smokers the dont wanna drive after smoking. What make anyone think someone who smokes grass is going to go operate machinery? Thats just plain stupid smoking grass doesnt make you wanna go drink poison either those are choices any one can make its called free will. Most wanna sit back laugh and have a good time. The only ones who should worry about grass being leagal is the snack food industry… they may run out and need to build another plant.

BIG difference… Marijuana and cigarettes are two similar yet very different substances. In many many ways. Ok just look it up on google

weed is more dangerous than cigarettes, weed makes you hallucinate and messes up your body and mind while cigarettes dont do nearly as much damage to yourself and others

It stays in your system for 30 days and has lingering effects well after its usage. That was what supposedly declared it a dangerous drug, but the elites are the reason it was declared as that. It really is about the paper industry and the US controls who gets rich, who gets college educated, and etc. etc.. Just try any of it without being an elite. You will have a hard disappointing life ahead of you.

What about all that ridlin people cram down the kids throat killing their livers and brain cells because you are too lazy to people won’t them out to play?

What about those psychotic drugs that is a fad to take that also kills the liver and brain cells, plus intervenes in decision making while driving? Not to mention makes you unable to function without the pills because you forgot how to think for yourselves?

A nation so hell bent on medicating everyone should back off stupid small problems like marijauna. There is so much more pushing through the courts systems and wasting tax payers money than prosecuting a dope smoker. Now cigarettes are the new marijuana. They are going to arrest them too, plus illegalize liquor, but will they ever illegalize that whiny housewife that over dramatizes everything to get her way through the justice system hoping make her man stay at home with her/ his whiny self costing them to make stupid rules and ignore the real priorities of where the judicial system shoud be aware of?

No, they won’t. If you fear marijuana smokers you are already brainwashed. If you take a chance at psychotic pills you are taking more of a chance at hurting your body than marijuana.

OMG some of you are stupid. ok, cigerettes do have some health risks with certain chemicals in it and harms your liver. Marijuana also had chemicals that harm your body, but also release Hallucinogens in your brain chemicals causing you to act different as well as redirect your brain cells with different messages in the dendrites causing it not only to effect your thinking, but also impair your memory. And don’t say it’s a plant from god, keep that religious crpa out of it because the government is based on freedom of religion so the god stuff won’t work here. And to add to that, alcohol is bad for you if you drink it IN EXCESS!! for example a bit of wine will help clean your mouth and line it to prevent tooth decay or other oral bacteria.

So if you are stupid because of doing pot, then shut up now. If you aren’t and can drive a decent arguement as very few people could, then ok. But stupid people need to shut up seriously.

the united states of america and great britan are the only 2 counrys in the world that mary jane is illigal and if you notic those are the best two countries becous we have the most money highest work rates and the (HIGHES AMOUNTS OF DRUG USE ) so if we legalise it there will b less people using it and if we do legalize it all the major drug deleres will have no more money and whats the fun in that walkin into a gas station and buyin weed nah id rather sneak around at 2 am and meet some guy up and buy an ounce for 100$ hehe and we all know what happenes when you start bangin the mary j hehe you laugh at anything but weed also has some benifits you can smoke it whne you are sick and for some reason it will make you better quicker so it has helth benifits and you know the lotions that have weed extract in them how come that isent illigal if they can tax that why can they just legalise it and not sell it in stores so I can b off state probation

well so far what I seen people say its so bad but some people get subscribe it to stress people as a medicine the only reason I illegal is the government cant keep up with all the money going to the weed and they could not keep track

because people are party poopers

People who are saying ooo well you can smoke a cig and drive a car but if you smoke a spliff your gonna crash!!! waah waahh nag nag whine whine blahhh First and foremost if Weed was legal it would be controlled and taxed and would be for 18-21+ ALSO Booze is perfectly legal,what would you prefer someone who just smoked a bowl or some jackass who just drank a 5th of vodka more then likely the drunk person is gonna crash while the person who just smoked a bowl will be fine I know plenty of people who have smoked ganja and drove perfectly fine and I’ve known plenty of people who have crashed/almost crashed because they were buzzed or drunk.

funadvice (the user), your very high strung. If pot isn’t your thing, I suggest meditation, deep breathing and soothing music.

Remember it takes all sorts to make up this world. Why make someone else miserable by taking away the thing that keeps them sane?

I’m sure car racing is more detrimental to your health and the environment, so your argument isn’t valid.

funadvice, your very high strung. If pot isn’t your thing, I suggest meditation, deep breathing and soothing music.

Remember it takes all sorts to make up this world. Why make someone else miserable by taking away the thing that keeps them sane?

I’m sure car racing is more detrimental to your health and the environment, so your argument isn’t valid.

wow. you people are simple minded. really. im a pot smoker and I bet you that my intelligence factor is higher than yours. think about this—>> alcohol is legal. It is way more harmful to the body than weed. the odds of a man beating his wife or killing somebody on the road is way higher than those who smoke weed. marijuana is used in medical practice through either smoke inhalation or pill form also known as Marinol. its also a proven fact that weed is not physically addictive. alcohol can kill you if over done and cigarettes can cause cancer. weed however is proven to help lower your risk of cancer as well as lessen bipolar, adhd, and depression. and an other thing if you wanna worry about the pot smokers on the road, it is a fact that potheads drive slower and are less likely to get into an accident than either a drunk or a stupid teenager with their text messaging on their cell phones.

Oh yes? Well how many people died from smoking marijuana last year, compared to the number of people who died from smoking cigarettes?

Also, you can’t overdose on marjiuana, or resin or thc. On the other hand, nicotine makes for a great insecticide. Which is also dangerous to humans.

And marijuana doesn’t impair your memory - in my case, it enhances it. And it greatly enhances my ability to visualize.

Yea, the difference is that cigarettes kill over 400,000 people per year and marijuana has never been connected to the death of a person. Probably because it isn’t lethal in any way and if everyone was smoking weed and it was okay, lawyers would lose millions in cases they would no longer get. The country is run by lawyers(democrats)and they only want money.

THE US GOVERNMENT IS RAN BY CORRUPT PEOPLE MORE CONCERNED WITH THERE MONEY FROM THE LOBIEST THAN THE GOOD OF IT S PEOPLE THE MAKE BILLION S FROM THE CIGGERETTE COMPANY S AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE WAY DOWN THE FOOD CHAIN THAT S WHY THEY NEED THE BAIL OUT THE WASHING TON ELITE ARE IN BED WITH WALL STREET

that’s a good qustion Agreed with pendie

1ba30, no offence, but that was a stupid answer. Tobaco is also an herb. Though prosessed & added in with other things to make a cigarette, everything that man uses came from nature.

i agree. that law is incredibly stupid. marijunana helps treat cancer and glachoma. it’snor addictive and it can’t cause cancer and you can’t overdose.

well my firend mary jane makes u high were u laugh all the time and do stupid stuff beleave me i kno u kno i use to say yea that need to legalize mary jane but then i thought about it there just gonna take the thc out of it and u wont get as high then ur gonna have to pay taxes that would suck so yea

weed is illegal because the government cant tax it to make money off of it… I dont know anyone who died from weed but plenty from cigarettes…

all the illegal drugs are illegal because the goverment doesnt make profit from it because itts smuggled into the country and ciggarets are legal because they make money from it all the stop smoking bullcrap is to make it look like they wana stop smoking if the did stop seeling tobacco products the country would loose millions in sales and imflation would go up insanely

I don’t know, but I do know that marijuana should be legalized. I also agree with a lot of people. Their rite, Marijuana is not a drug. It’s food. God put it here for the comsumtion of man. I don’t know about all of you people but when I smoke cigarettes I feel like shit and not good. When I smoke green I feel enlightened and at peace. Also, isent this a free country?

Many of the people here exclaim that marijuana “Makes you stupid”, “Potheads are all morons!”, etc. therefore knowing that I smoke you must think I too am a moron. Let me tell you something about myself; I am 21 and I have a college degree in comp.sci, I am a Network Admin/Programmer and make $60,000 annually, I have the same IQ I was tested to have before I smoked pot(6yrs prior now) which is 145. I am also fit, I have a 6 pack, I am a kickboxer, a motorcyclist, and a surfer, I have many friends, a girl, and an active life too! NOW can you tell me I am a moron ‘kamex’ (poor uninformed above poster), I am BARELY drinking age! Now tell me, what makes you so great. OMG PLEASE TAKE THE POST THIS TIME WEBSITE!

i think cigerettes should be illegal and weed should be legal.why i think that is because cigerettes kill alot of people.i smoke cigerettes and its hard for me to quit.i also smoke weed and it makes me feel relaxed and good.cigerettes gives me a hard time to go to sleep cause i cant breath and my lungs hurt…thanx TiNY

point blank marijuana shoulb be legal because it hasent killed anybody as far s we know so I along with other people would give there bodys and mind up so scientist can have test done on what it does to teh mind. they should also go with the lung to see the changes in the lung capacity. then do teh same with sigs.

Correction to the end of the above post (comment system must have cut it):

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7305 <— VERY INFORMATIVE SITE

Many of the people here exclaim that marijuana “Makes you stupid”, “Potheads are all morons!”, etc. therefore knowing that I smoke you must think I too am a moron. Let me tell you something about myself; I am 21 and I have a college degree in comp.sci, I am a Network Admin/Programmer and make $60,000 annually, I have the same IQ I was tested to have before I smoked pot(6yrs prior now) which is 145. I am also fit, I have a 6 pack, I am a kickboxer, a motorcyclist, and a surfer, I have many friends, a girl, and an active life too! NOW can you tell me I am a moron ‘kamex’ (poor uninformed above poster), I am BARELY drinking age! Now tell me, what makes you so great.

I know! .. it’s absurd.. cigarettes are soo much worse for your body.. and pft drinking too! .. people need to do their reseach .. I know about all that stuff becuase mt older sister have a very argumentative.. ? [sp] with that subject. this isn’t really an answer but yeah..

lol bun that

all good if it makes you happy

like everything - in moderation. can be the tricky bit

I personally think that marijuana should be legal; IF you are in a closed environment. just like alcohol, when under the influence of weed it should be illegal to drive and be out in public. but smoking weed should be legal if you are in your own home or not out in the community.

they havent put marijuana as legal because they cant put a tax on it. and if they did make it legal in my point of view would be itd be best if they legalized it. but that you couldnt do thingz like you could if you drink and drive. if the gov made a law tha same as not drinkin and driving or being out side… that be totally fine wit me yo… and that one foo needa take a chill pill or toc a lil you writin all crazy bro… peace

one thing with “pot” or “weed” is that it has gotten stronger and people are always trying to make it stronger. or to have longer lasting effects. I have never done it but my friends do it everyday and I see the effects in person. I dont think it should be legal. the govt first of all will try to make a monopoly like cigarettes and tax the heck out of it while being able to say how much comes in the country or out. you will be paying a crap load more for a pack of cigaweeds than cigarettes. and the whole bus driver on THC or Alcohol, I will drive my kid. you dumb*es that would rather have the driver on THC even as a choice are plain out stupid. listen to yourself. yeah he/she will be relaxed but will your kid make it to school on time. or even at all. seriously my friends already dont stay with a subject without thinkin food. you think the bus driver is like oh I think I will pick this group of kids up then go to the school for them ta learn. ha. that sounds beyond brilliant. another thing is yeah a person can take a simple drink or a single puff. doesnt matter. under influence is under influence. immunity doesnt work for everyone. do a little more research or pay attention in science class. the teacher will tell you everything you want to know. and not everyone has the same effects to the same drug. someone could act calm and collective on THC but another could just fall asleep in 5 mins. my friends do that. why wouldnt anyone else.

any personal responses thehairdude_14 at hotmail.

I live in the Netherlands as a foreigner. Most of you will know that Marijuana and its derivates are legal here. It used to shock me before. And despite not smoking it, I’ve learnt to accept it. Over here there are very strict laws on the sale/purchase/use of cannabis. Also driving under the influence is illegal, and punished.

However I dont understand why some people are being so anti-marijuana. If someone enjoys sitting down on a friday evening and rolling a joint, isnt that their issue. So long as it causes others no harm wheres the problem? I like a glass of wine with my dinner on friday, alcohol kills more people a year than most drugs put together. And also, pot smoke is much less foul smelling than Tobacco smoke.

So quite honestly, dont get so heated about it. If you like marijuana, smoke it. Please dont drive in my neighbourhood afterwards (please dont drive at all). If you dont, then let it rest, if you dont care about something, how is it your problem.

I can understand parents wanting their kids to stay away from pot, but trust me, their more likely to have something bad happen to them after the drinking their going to do when they turn 16/17, than a little gram of weed they will try behind the bike shed.

well this is obvious…Ciggaretes are legal because the government benefits from it more than he benefits from marijuana! Why would they legalize marijuana, while he has alcohol and ciggarette money coming in every hour every day! The government has marijuana half legal but yet its the worst thing to do! DOesnt make sense ITS ALL FIXED BY ALL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS!!!

All these people explaining why marijauna is illegal are all full of it. They are looking at everything that can go wrong. When you hear legalization of marijuana, it is very misleading.Legal marijuana would still be illegal in the sense, you wont be able to drive under the influence, like alcohol, you would not be able to just grow it in your back yard, it would still be illegal to grow so the tax could be implemented. But why not just buy it on the streets still? The reason is why risk getting in trouble, if something is legal, if you can go buy it from your 7-11. Their would still be an age limit and jobs could still fire you if you worked “under the influence.” The legalization of marijuana would extremely make a difference with today’s economy. The rules and regulations would be the same, maybe some difference, as alcohol.

Well my brother smokes pot, and I know people who smoke pot, and they’re all stupid when they weren’t before. But scientists have proven I’m wrong, so I guess they’re smart…

Of course it has medical properties, but that’s a completely different topic. I don’t give a crap about it being used medically, and I never even complained about that…

I’m sure a lot of people smoke a doobie to make their tummy feel better… What about tums or some crap? Personally, I just live with it, but whatever…

its not a question of health it a question of short term affects. cigarettes are just as bad as marajuana but have no effects after smoking one. but marijuana… well lets just say it has some effects. marijuana doesnt kill people but potheads do. thts why its illegal so potheads dont smoke it as much. if it were legal we would have people lighting up all over the place. crime rates and traffic accidents would go thru the roof. etc etc.

Hi GirlFromGA,

You can check when and why marijuana or hemp became illegal, after centuries of legality. For instance, check out the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marihuana_Tax_Act

Also, alcohol is legal, even though it kills many people a year, while marijuana has never been known to kill anyone. And even though alcohol is legal, it is restricted to people over a certain age. The same should be true for marijuana.

And when there are too many trivial laws, the people stop respecting the law itself. And that is a very dangerous trade off, for making a plant illegal to own or grow.

Dear SUE90. That is the dumbest crap I’ve heard. You can not use that as a reason why pot is illegal, if so then apparently the bus driver and pilots and doctors would be drinkin up a storm at work now dont ya think. Your a tool and need not throw your halfwit ignorance upon us. If marijuana was legal im sure it would be just like alcohol and be illegal to work under the influence along with driving under the influence you twit.

Marijuana only has 3 side effects!!!

HUNGRY HAPPY AND SLEEPY!!! Drugs you have to do crap to chemically, add baking soda, water, sturr it up. I dont know the recipe im just sayin.

my question is, why does everyone act like weed messes you up worse than alcohol or cig’s? if a mother drinks while pregnant it hurts the baby and if a mother smokes cigarettes while pregnant it hurts the baby too. first you need to educate yourselves about marajuana by comparing its effects to alcohol and cigarettes. cigarettes just cause cancer and give you a buzz by not letting your lungs get oxygen to your brain properly and that makes you dizzy for about five or ten minutes but it also gives you lung cancer and its addictive. there is no point to cigarettes unless you’re dumb enough to get addicted to them. and alcohol just messes you up really bad. it doesn’t really even take that much to get you drunk and unable to operate a vehicle. go smoke some pot and then get behid the wheel of a car and then try to tell me how hard it is to drive while on it. you would be lying to yourself if you said it was as hard as if you were hammered. it’s nearly impossible to get so high you cant drive because once youve had enough youve had enough you dont really want it anymore because you feel good enough and you wanna do other stuff like eat and play video games and listen to music or just go to sleep. weed doesn’t make you energetic to where you dont think about what you’re doing or to where you cant’ control yourself. and when was the last time you heard “three people were killed in a car accident last night due to one driver being high as a kite”? I mean for real there’s no real reason that alcohol and cig’s should be legal and weed should’n’t. yea SMOKING weed can hurt your lungs, but what about when you make thos special brownies? is that hurting your lungs? hayell no its not hurting your lungs. but you still get high and feel great. another thing I’ve heard on here is, that weed makes you dumb and that you can’t think of concepts. go smoke a bowl and tell me you cant think up some pretty crazy stuff. you’ll come up with stuff that no one’s ever heard of before, you’ll come up with new ideas on how to do things different or how to make something better. why do you think we were moving forward in history and now we’re just sitting still not changing at all. the only reason we change now is because we need it. not because we want to make things better. all the inventors in history were probably what we call potheads today. if you’re sober right now try to think of something like inventing the wheel or trying to think of something like a car. weed has been illegal since the fifties, but before that, we used it for all kinds of things like rope. and ish like that. now we use trees and kill them all but it takes years to grow a tree while it takes about four months to grow a mature weed plant. dont listen to the government listen to yourselves. the gov is turning us into robots who do whatever they tell us. think of it this way.u know how people grow plants the way they want by only allowing a certain amount of nutrients or sunlight or trimming them. the government’s controlling us more and more by making more and more stupid laws. and do you think that maybe the people who started the bill of rights and all that law creating stuff were thinking of down the road and how they could create of gov. that would gradually control its people and eventually make a full circle back to monarchy or communism. . . . hey guess what. im stoned as balls and I just came up with that concept. I just proved one of the b.s. symptoms wrong. think about that. how much else of what we’ve been told do you think is just a load of nonsense?

just like chris rock said. “It’s all right, because it’s all white” cigarretes kill many people and it was discovered by a white boy. if cigs were discovered by two black brothas you’d get 25 to life for walkin down 25th ave with a pack of marlboro in your hands.

People dont think about how ad cigaretts are for you. They think because you get high off of pot that the world is gunna end!! but when your lungs collaps they’ll realize whos right and whos wrongs!

as bad as the US economy is, making cigarettes illegal will just make it worse

too many people are addicted and banning them will just cause mayhem obviously since they are addicting people would just break the law and yu know..

weeed<3

its all due to “bad journalism”

These are some of the comments I have copied from a forum

-pharmaceuticals are known to kill more people than illegal drugs

-marijuana is the number 1 cash crop in the world it serves as a natural medicine and has many other uses thats why they prohibited it so big companies can make more profit thanks to “bad journalism”

-can also help aids patients, aids diminishes appetite have them smoke a joint and they regain their appetite counteracting the illness

-no one can die from smoking cannabis and has been no known deaths compared to everything else including alcohol, tobacco, etc..

I myself have asthma and smoking opens up my airways making it easier to breathe with no side effects when medically legalized in my state I look foward to becoming a patient for prescription marijuana. 12 states have already legalized it along with other countries in the world and more following my job is to educate people that are not aware of the plants uses

re-legalize!

-I did most of my research through websites, books, magazines, and the news norml.org high times magazine etc..

• theres more to it than just getting high and I believe legalizing it would make this a better world to live in

-God bless the whole crop!

• and for people that dont smoke, you dont need to smoke it to support it

-all the better reason for the government to legalize.. couple reasons why it should be legalized: -will be removed from black market and stop empowering gang members -medical reasons -would be sold like alcohol, remember alcohol was once prohibited too (in stores away from children, have to be 21+) -would be a law that you cant drive while intoxicated on weed -prison population would lower (prisons are overcrowding with nonviolent offenders) -keep patients from being convicted -would provide millions of jobs for people -would make us an independent country (fuel, etc.., debt free america)

people with an addiction (including hard drugs) shouldnt be thrown in jail, they need help theres more people in jail with mental illnesses than there are in mental institutions

the list goes on

• the War on Drugs is a failure, its a war on its own people. policies need to be changed we pay billions in taxpayers money to keep the war going and neither side is winning thats just a waste of our tax money I wonder what they do with all that money.. those greedy bastards just sell drugs back onto the street, you can even check urself on that there was a time when there was a cia operation transporting drugs overseas into america the government also provided Rick Ross with plenty of heroin to go around, course making money from it

the truth must be exposed, theyre dirty work must stop!

-Of course we can do something about it, we all just need to unite screw the federal government remember slavery? if no one stood up im pretty sure it would still be going on people were tortured, beaten, killed and thrown in jail but that didnt stop them standing up for their rights eventually slavery was abolished same with alcohol prohibition eventually became re-legalized

• its like theres some kind of conspiracy going on I sense the government is up to no good and trying to control us. credit cards, money, and now they have chips that can be implanted in skin for uselful reasons but if in the wrong hands well were pretty much fuct they hiding the truth from us its dangerous to be right when the government is wrong they got theyre privacy but we dont. they want to know everything were doing on our leisure time

get up stand up!

• marijuanas not anti-establishment because its illegal, its illegal because its anti-establishment

all facts stated have been double-checked and confirmed want to learn more? norml.org hightime.com americandrugwar.org lets all make this a better place to live in!

I think cigarettes should be illegal too, well except for 100% natural tobacco the tobacco today has additives in it that purposely make you addicted to it for obvious reasons

because pot has not been in America. As to cigerretts which have been in america since 4ever, and slaves and slave owners and others used 2 smoke tobacco. like alcohal.

“ Why is it that pot is illegal? “

Strictly speaking because of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

It was make illegal because the fact that jack and his uncle could grow it was a direct threat to the timber monopoly of newspaper magnate J. Randolph Hearst. If anyone could make paper pulp (from hemp), it would have meant more competition. It was a way of limiting newspaper competition. He got together with the chemical industry’s Dupont family who saw hemp as a threat to the cotton industry’s need for huge amounts of chemicals.

It was then sold to the American public as a way of getting at Mexican immigrants and Black jazz musicians.

Dear Hears an idea, either get on the web and buy salvia, while you still can, they say it has potential to be the next marijuana. Its not the effects of the herb, which is still legal besides for in 4 states, but the way that it is sweeping the nation. There are still other herbs you can buy, that act as marijuana, and the difference can not be seen even to the everyday pothead. Many websites sell salvia, and kronic, along with krapton which are herb shrooms, all high potential right now for being illegal soon because the effects are equivalant. Think of marijuana, it was an herb, people heard about it, smoked it liked it, try salvia and kronic. The Sh*t made the news paper, salvia, so if it made the paper, shits decent, I started by buying a gram. Thank u, and have a nice day!

Well, what I believe is that, pot can mess with your judgment and alters your mind temporarily while cigarettes don’t affect your mind at all (except it affects your lungs of course lol). Plus, cigarettes have been legal forever and so many people are hooked that if they banned it then it would piss tons of people off and it will just be sold the same way marijuana is sold, illegally. It would end up like when the tried to ban alcohol way back and people ended up selling it like a drug so the plan failed and of course, alcohol is legal again. Also, it’s not that they don’t know that cigarettes are worse than marijuana, it’s that pot isn’t necessarily good for you so they don’t want more people getting hooked on another legal drug besides cigarettes.

Eh smokes arnt tat bad but hash is illgal cause of its effects on th brain

good question. Probably because people dealing weed can put many different substances in it, and it eventually becomes dangerous. I think it should be legal for recreational purposes, but like alchohol you should not be allowed to drive or operate machinary etc.

Dear mr_super123, alcohol and cigarettes are illegal between the age 18-21 depending on where you live. If someone were to take your children on a school bus on a very busy highway…would you prefer someone who just had a cigarette or someone who just smoked a joint? I think it is obvious here because although cigarette is a drug it does not alter the perception and reaction time the way THC would. This is an age old question and goes way back and does have political connotations but as a mother and a person well education with drugs and alcohol I couldn’t imagine our bus drivers, pilots, doctors smoking a big doobie then being responsible to carry out their duties. Sue…good luck

people are dumb if you think weeds bad for you look up how many people die from weed 0. if you ask me that’s a lot better than 400,000 people that died from drinking and the 300,000 people that died from Tabasco.

well because the government cant tax it…and because one joint is equal to four ciggarettes…itll get legalized eventually but when they do more research on it, but if you havent noticed, the U.S has more important things going on right now then legalizin drugs

There are many pros and cons to smoking ganj just as there is with pretty much everything else in life. Everyone should just try to enjoy themselves while also being informed and choosing for themselves. That said I also realize the gov is going to limit use as much as they can because it would be a cash crop that would simplify industry to the point that too many jumbo pockets would deflate resulting in a catastrophic equality epidemic. MAYBE?

Before I begin I would like to state that I am a medical marijuana user, a smoker, and a drinker. I have unbiased views on all of the above and have always sought to get my OWN information from scientifically proven studies. That being said I would like to shed a bit of light for some seemingly very misguided or at least propaganda controlled people here. These are all UNDISPUTED facts of all three and can be used to enlighten quite a few people about this topic when studied side by side:

marijuana:

• not addictive
• high tar content ( this can be controlled or simply negated with varying tactics)
• no proven long term detriments (don’t try to refute this with unproven propaganda)
• 35 deaths reported to be caused by marijuana in year 2001 in ALL of America! (literally safer to use than… well pretty much anything)
• impossible to overdose or cause death (scientists have even failed in trying to kill LAB RATS with marijuana) Recent study shows the amount of marijuana it takes to kill the average man, which is to (eat, therefore none is wasted) 250 pounds every fifteen minutes for about 2 days! And don’t just believe me, Google search it yourself!
• Medical uses: -Anxiety (most common medical use) -Nneuropathic Pain (pain from nerve damage)
• nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, and movement disorders
• Anorexia(powerful appetite stimulant)
• HIV, the AIDS wasting syndrome, or dementia
• Emerging research suggests that marijuana’s medicinal properties may protect the body against some types of malignant tumors and are neuroprotective! Cigarettes”
• highly addictive
• high tar content
• long term ill effects (too many to list, too obviously bad for you anyway)
• 435,000 deaths caused in 2000 in AMERICA ALONE!! (OMG I need to quit!)
• Obviously causes death, cancer, limp genitalia, on and on
• NO medical uses Alcohol:
• Highly Addictive
• long term effects (kills brain cells, liver damage, death, high car accident rate,etc.)
• killed 17,524 in 2002 in America alone
• Medical use: red wine lowers metabolism with moderate drinking =)

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7305 <— VERY INFORMATIVE SITE

Many of the people here exclaim that marijuana “Makes you stupid”, “Potheads are all morons!”, etc. therefore knowing that I smoke you must think I too am a moron. Let me tell you something about myself; I am 21 and I have a college degree in comp.sci, I am a Network Admin/Programmer and make $60,000 annually, I have the same IQ I was tested to have before I smoked pot(6yrs prior now) which is 145. I am also fit, I have a 6 pack, I am a kick boxer, a motorcyclist, and a surfer, I have many friends, a girl, and an active life too! NOW can you tell me I am a moron ‘kamex’ (poor uninformed above poster), I am BARELY drinking age! Now tell me, what makes you so great.

because so many people are addicted to tobacco that if we all of the sudden made it illegal there would be a HUGE riot. same thing with alcohol.

my mother has to take marijuana in pill form every day and she doesn’t do anything differently when she’s on it, except maybe she’s calmer. I think it should be the only “drug” that IS legal.

I really think it should be in a nutshell from personal experiance it just makes you happy,hungry,sleepy thats about it!

Marijuana is illegal because the US government has failed to tax it. The reason being because so many small-time growers are producing it. Also, it puts many other fields of work in danger, including the cotton business. Hemp is a usable substitute for clothes, rope, paper, bird seed, etc etc. The mental side effects of pot “slowed time, reduction in motor skills, euphoria” are all “part of” the high, and wear off in a few hours. In the study saying “marijuana produces more carcinogens than tobacco” they are stating that marijuana LEAVES give off more, and in that they do. Who the hell smokes mostly leaves? Mostly all users smoke the bud of the plant, which has the same, or less amount. Also take into consideration the amount of cigarettes a typical user consumes in a day, a pack we can say? I dont think most recreational users smoke 20-25 joints a day =). The “gateway drug” theory can also be easily shot down. If weed was legalized, people would not be buying from dealers, they would buy it from a store, where their not trying to sell their new heroine, aggreed? In all, there in dwindling evidence marijuana should sanely be kept legal.

Peace-

 Bud S. Moker

Because we the people have not done anything about this. Who do you hire to get the right things done? A politican? a president? I don’t know but from past experiences in my lifetime so far since 1986 when I was born None of these people can actually help us with problems that we need to get fixed. Realizing this I studied back further and further, upon finding a lot of things out the only way out of all this corruption and greed is for US the PEOPLE to take a stand again like our founding fathers and demand our government back and the immediate stoping of pursuing non vioulent offenders for prison senenteces.. these people have families kids houses everything, but they dont hurt people. why do they get in trouble like violent criminals, its crazy I swear, Child molestors rapists and murders get treated better than drug offenders in some cases. This is not a political or judicial problem this drug thing. It is a medical problem since they are all plants we ingest to fufill something inside of us. No law could ever understand that. thanks for your time.

because so many people are addicted to tobacco that if we all of the sudden made it illegal there would be a HUGE riot. same thing with alcohol, and I think alcohol effects the mind so much worse than marijuana.

The difference is that the government has not found a way to make weed profitable for them — once they do it will be legal again.

I think the maxim; people fear what they do not understand is appropriate for this situation. I myself have smoked Marijuana for years and I have never tried or wish to try “hard drugs”. Furthermore, anyone with the mental capcity of a three year old can state that smoking Marijuana is illegal, but what seems to elude all of them is what IT ACTUALLY MEANS. As long as people chose ignorance over knowing and learning the barbarians will continue their mono-syallbic song of Ignorance is Bliss.

people are just mad that we get rich with tax free money. Maybe there just in the wrong profession.

long story short, marijuana was first illegalized in 1937 by our government because they could not tax it and make money off of it, the REAL reason it was illegalized was because a someone(not sure of his name right now) sold 2 joints…just 2 joints, and the gov realized this and knew that since people can grow it in their basements, they can’t tax it to make more money. and also because it is used in many medical purposes, pharmacutical companies would be out of business from this god given cure/reliever of many diseases. think about it, cigarettes are so popular because once you try it, you get addicted to it from the manmade nicotine they put inside of it, and then you start to buy more and more and more. thats how the gov makes so much money off of cig’s from its addictive nature to people, that they won’t illegalize it for that reason alone. isn’t it strange how the gov lets us consume deathly products that are manmade, such as alcohol, nicotine, tobacco, and the like, but when its something that god actually made from the beginning of time,(it’s in the bible) that they say its illegal because man has no power over it?

Well, Actually I don’t even consider pot a drug because it barely does anything to you.. but, as far as why it is illegal.. one reason is because our government doesn’t want to pay the drug makers, like jamaica and columbia and such. I don’t know why they wont pay maybe cause we don’t like those countys but, yeah, that is one reason.. im sure there is more.

because the government is full of a bunch of h03 a55 n1gga5 you should know that they not gone legalize it and if they do they gone make it just as bad as cigarettes with all them damn chemicals they dont want us to have fun

mj might make you look dumb physically but instead you are mentally enlightened. it makes your worries go away. and who cares what others think of you. most people are frightened away from it by the media. if one believes it is good then it will be good(satisfying( not talking about health issues)). most(not all) people who badmouthing reefer probably never tried it. do these people even think about why they havent tried it? is it a social taboo?

Long story short: the government ruins everything!!!

Im sorry but people sayin that god put it here so it should be legal your also sayin that smack/heroine should be legal that comes from a plant also so there is no argument with that one!!

2greencats answer about the reasons it is illegal are the ones to pay attention to, Mr Super. As for Kamex- he said “you can drink a little w/ out getting smashed” actually people can take in a little marijuana w/ out getting “totally wasted”. If he has the right to relax w/ a drink, which does not a thing for me, why can’t I relax w/ a puff? RESPONSIBLY-OF COURSE!! Personally, I have seen much more agression and dangerous behaviour from alcohol than from marijuana. As for tobacco, whats the point?

I would have to say that cigerettes are leagle is because it does not alter your state of mind as pot does. Many people belive that pot is less harmful to the body than tabacco. As I see it pot should be leagle and boos should not be. I would personaly rather have my child on a bus with a driver that smokes weed than one that drinks befor takeing my child to school. Why? Its simple Drinking alters the state of mind diffrently than smokeing pot. While drunk you can become agressive and do stupid things and pot just relaxes you and makes you hungry.

Hi GirlFromGA,

You can check when and why marijuana or hemp became illegal, after centuries of legality. For instance, check out the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marihuana_Tax_Act

Also, alcohol is legal, even though it kills many people a year, while marijuana has never been known to kill anyone. And even though alcohol is legal, it is restricted to people over a certain age. The same should be true for marijuana.

And when there are too many trivial laws, the people stop respecting the law itself. And that is a very dangerous trade off, for making a plant illegal to own or grow.

Short-term effects of using marijuana include:

Sleepiness Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car Increased heart rate Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease Bloodshot eyes Dry mouth and throat Decreased social inhibitions Paranoia, hallucinations Impaired or reduced short-term memory Impaired or reduced comprehension Altered motivation and cognition, making the acquisition of new information difficult Paranoia Psychological dependence Impairments in learning, memory, perception, and judgment - difficulty speaking, listening effectively, thinking, retaining knowledge, problem solving, and forming concepts Intense anxiety or panic attacks

Long-term effects of using marijuana include:

Enhanced cancer risk ( I did not say lung cancer.) Decrease in testosterone levels and lower sperm counts for men (OUCH) Increase in testosterone levels for women and increased risk of infertility (Double ouch) Diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure ( Hmmm.) Psychological dependence requiring more of the drug to get the same effect ($$$)

The Effects on the Male:

Marijuana is the most common drug used by adolescents in America today. Marijuana affect the parts of the brain which controls the sex and growth hormones. In males, marijuana can decrease the testosterone level. Occasional cases of enlarged breasts in male marijuana users are triggered by the chemical impact on the hormone system. Regular marijuana use can also lead to a decrease in sperm count, as well as increases in abnormal and immature sperm. Marijuana is a contributing factor in the rising problem of infertility in males. Young males should know the effects and potential effects of marijuana use on sex and growing process before they decide to smoke marijuana.

The Effects on the Female:

Just as in Males, marijuana effects the female in the part of the brain that controls the hormones, which determines the sequence in the menstrual cycle. Its been said that females who smoked or used marijuana on a regular basis had irregular menstrual cycles, the female hormones were depressed, and the testosterone level was raised. Even though this effect may be reversible, it may take several months of no marijuana use before the menstrual cycles become normal again.

Mothers who smoke marijuana on a regular basis have been reported of having babies with a weak central nervous system. These babies show abnormal reactions to light and sound, exhibit tremors and startles, and have the high-pitched cry associated with drug withdrawal. Occurring at five times the rate of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Fetal Marijuana Syndrome is a growing concern of many doctors. Furthermore, doctors worry that children born to “pot-head” mothers will have learning disabilities, attention deficits and hormonal irregularities as they grow older, even if there are no apparent signs of damage at birth. Pregnant or nursing mothers who smoke marijuana should talk to their doctors immediately.

Effects of Marijuana on the Brain:

Researchers have found that THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted on by the hippocampus. This is a component of the brain’s limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations. Investigations have shown that neurons in the information processing system of the hippocampus and the activity of the nerve fibers are suppressed by THC. In addition, researchers have discovered that learned behaviors, which depend on the hippocampus, also deteriorate.

Recent research findings also indicate that long-term use of marijuana produces changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse.

Effects on the Lungs:

Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke.

Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be due to the marijuana users inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke in the lungs.

Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure:

Recent findings indicate that smoking marijuana while shooting up cocaine has the potential to cause severe increases in heart rate and blood pressure. In one study, experienced marijuana and cocaine users were given marijuana alone, cocaine alone, and then a combination of both. Each drug alone produced cardiovascular effects; when they were combined, the effects were greater and lasted longer. The heart rate of the subjects in the study increased 29 beats per minute with marijuana alone and 32 beats per minute with cocaine alone. When the drugs were given together, the heart rate increased by 49 beats per minute, and the increased rate persisted for a longer time. The drugs were given with the subjects sitting quietly. In normal circumstances, an individual may smoke marijuana and inject cocaine and then do something physically stressful that may significantly increase risks of overload on the cardiovascular system.

Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use on Learning and Social Behavior:

A study of college students has shown that critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours. Researchers compared 65 “heavy users,” who had smoked marijuana a median of 29 of the past 30 days, and 64 “light users,” who had smoked a median of 1 of the past 30 days. After a closely monitored 19- to 24-hour period of abstinence from marijuana and other illicit drugs and alcohol, the undergraduates were given several standard tests measuring aspects of attention, memory, and learning. Compared to the light users, heavy marijuana users made more errors and had more difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing, and using information. The findings suggest that the greater impairment among heavy users is likely due to an alteration of brain activity produced by marijuana.

Longitudinal research on marijuana use among young people below college age indicates those who used have lower achievement than the non-users, more acceptance of deviant behavior, more delinquent behavior and aggression, greater rebelliousness, poorer relationships with parents, and more associations with delinquent and drug-using friends.

Effects on Pregnancy:

Any drug of abuse can affect a mother’s health during pregnancy, and this is a time when she should take special care of herself. Drugs of abuse may interfere with proper nutrition and rest, which can affect good functioning of the immune system. Some studies have found that babies born to mothers who used marijuana during pregnancy were smaller than those born to mothers who did not use the drug. In general, smaller babies are more likely to develop health problems.

A nursing mother who uses marijuana passes some of the THC to the baby in her breast milk. Research indicates that the use of marijuana by a mother during the first month of breast-feeding can impair the infant’s motor development (control of muscle movement). Research also shows more anger and more regressive behavior (thumb sucking, temper tantrums) in toddlers whose parents use marijuana than among the toddlers of non-using parents.

Easy. Cigarettes can just give you cancer. :P :P Marijuana can impair your thinking and cause you to do something stupid. Smoking marijuana can cause others injury if you get behind a wheel after smoking it. Smoking cigarettes can usually just cause yourself injury. Unless you get enough second hand smoke.

“Because marijuana changes your personality and ability to react”.

Talk about indoctrination. You could make the same argument about beer.

But then, you can’t grow beer in your spare room for practically nothing. No money to be made from marijuana, so let’s force people to buy cans of liquid that will clog their arteries and give them strokes and coronaries.

I’ll stick with the weed.

From “The End of Faith” by Sam Harris. Reposted from http://quotes.gaia.com/61529/p_many_references_from_a/by_sam_harris

The consequences of our irrationality on this front are so egregious that they bear closer examination. Each year, over 1.5 million men and women are arrested in the United States because of our drug laws. At this moment, somewhere on the order of 400,000 men and women languish in U.S. prisons for nonviolent drug offenses. One million others are currently on probation. More people are imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses in the United States than are incarcerated, for any reason, in all of Western Europe (which has a larger population). The cost of these efforts, at the federal level alone, is nearly $20 billion dollars annually. The total cost of our drug laws – when one factors in the expense to state and local governments and the tax revenue lost by our failure to regulate the sale of drugs – could easily be in excess of $100 billion dollars each year. Our war on drugs consumes an estimated 50 percent of the trial time of our courts and the full-time energies of over 400,000 police officers. These are resources that might otherwise be used to fight violent crimes and terrorism.

        In historical terms, there was every reason to expect that such a policy of prohibition would fail.  It is well known, for instance, that the experiment with prohibition of alcohol in the United States did little more than precipitate a terrible comedy of increased drinking, organized crime, and police corruption.  What is not generally remembered is that Prohibition was an explicitly religious exercise, being the joint product of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the pious lobbying of certain Protestant missionary societies.

        The problem with prohibition of any desirable commodity is money.  The United Nations values the drug trade at $400 billion a year.  This exceeds the annual budget for the U.S. Department of Defense.  If this figure is correct, the trade in illegal drugs constitutes 8 percent of all international commerce (while the sale of textiles makes up 7.5 percent and motor vehicles just 5.3 percent). (35 – www.lindesmith.org)  And yet, prohibition itself is what makes the manufacture and sale of drugs so extraordinarily profitable.  Those who earn there living in this way enjoy a 5,000 to 20,000 percent return on their investment, tax-free.  Every relevant indicator of the drug trades – rates of drug use and interdiction, estimates of production, the purity of drugs on the street, etc. – shows that the government can do nothing to stop it as long as such profit exists (indeed, these profits are highly corrupting of law enforcement in any case).  The crimes of the addict, to finance the stratospheric cost of his lifestyle, and the crimes of the dealer, to protect both his territory and his goods, are likewise the result of prohibition. (36 footnote below)  A final irony, which seems good enough to be the work of Satan himself, is that the market we have created by our drug laws has become a steady source of revenue for terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Shining Path, and others.  [supporting link – not from Sam Harris: drug policy and terrorism]

        Even if we acknowledge that stopping drug use is a justifiable social goal, how does the financial cost of our war on drugs appear in light of the other challenges we face?  Consider that it would require only a onetime expenditure of $2 billion to secure our commercial seaports against smuggled nuclear weapons.  At present we have allocated a mere $93 million for this purpose. (footnote link)   How will our prohibition of marijuana use look (this comes at the cost of $4 billion annually) if a new sun ever dawns over the port of Los Angeles?  Or consider that the U.S. government can afford to spend only $2.3 billion each year on reconstruction of Afghanistan.  The Taliban and Al Qaeda are now regrouping.  Warlords rule the countryside beyond the city limits of Kabul.  Which is more important to us, reclaiming this part of the world for the forces of civilization or keeping cancer patients in Berkeley from relieving their nausea with marijuana?  Our present use of government funds suggests an uncanny skewing – we might even say derangement – of our national priorities.  Such a bizarre allocation of resources is sure to keep Afghanistan in ruins for years to come.  It will also leave Afghan farmers with no alternative but to grow opium.  Happily for them, our drug laws still render this a highly profitable enterprise.

        Anyone who believes that God is watching us from beyond the stars will feel that punishing peaceful men and women for their private pleasure is perfectly reasonable.  We are now in the twenty-first century.  Perhaps we should have better reasons for depriving our neighbors of their liberty at gunpoint.  Given the magnitude of the real problems that confront us – terrorism, nuclear proliferation, the spread of infectious disease, failing infrastructure, lack of adequate funds for education and health care, etc. – our war on sin is so outrageously unwise as to almost defy rational comment.  How have we grown so blind to our deeper interests?  And how have we manages to enact such policies with so little substantive debate?

36 footnote pg 259 of book

When was the last time someone was killed over a tobacco or alcohol deal gone awry? We can be confident that the same normalcy would be achieved if drugs were regulated by the government. At the inception of the modern “war on drugs,” the economist Milton Friedman observed that “legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement.” He then invited the reader to “conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order” (Friedman, “Prohibition and Drugs,” Newsweek May 1, 1972). What was true then remains true after three decades of pious misrule; the criminality associated with the drug trade is the inescapable consequence of our drug laws themselves.

hey sue90 are you stupid?

smoking pot and drinking and driving is the same as drinking and driving think before you criticize please

Weed is just a plant, light it up and you will get some effect. But cigarettes on fire brings you closer to death. Why is marijuana illegal while cigarettes are legal? Who gives a fuc, people already smoking weed like its legal.

Actually there are at least 3 major types of cannabis and whether they produce aggression or not is completely up to the individual, although it is rare. The major types are: Afghani (indica), Skunk #1 (sativa) and Haze (sativa). Afghani and indicas have a sedative effect. Skunk has a euphoric effect, while Haze has a trippy/psychedelic effect. Most marijuana seeds on sale today a hybrids of these. Then, there are the landraces, many of which have their own unique effect. For instance, the African sativas often have 100% THC and 0% CBD, which give a very electric body stone/high. Personally, I only smoke sativas (on the euphoric side). Instead of a sedative effect, some indica’s give me a melancholy and negative trip - so I don’t smoke them. :) That is one of the benefits of growing your own weed - you always know what you are getting. All you need is a couple of fluorescent lights for germination/early vegging, and a balcony or small yard that gets enough sun. For flowering, you put them in a box or closet that keeps all the light out (important) but lets some air in. Keep the soil and nutrient ph around 6.8 to 7, and you’re on your way to growing better weed than you can buy anywhere. And more of it, practically for free.

That’s a very good question. The health implications of both tabacco and marijuana are bad. However, the effects of THC, Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana), in your blood affects your thinking ability. Marijuana has a hallucengenic effect that can impair your judge and function. Cigarettes on the other hand, does not have those effects to your brain, but the long-term effects on your body is still very harmful. Because marijuana has this effect on the brain, the activities of the drug can cause people to do harmful things, not only onto themselves, but onto others as well (i.e. driving under the influcence or operating machinery while “stoned.”) Becasue of this, this substance is heavily regulated and illegal to use. Also, marijuana is considered an entry drug, which leads many others to use more potent drugs like Meth, Crack, or Heroin. With that said, I’m sure that the next question will be, then why isn’t alcohol illegal, it’s as addictive and can cause just as much damage. Ask me that question next time and I’ll try to give you a good answer. Peace

it makes me so mad when people think marijuana is bad for you.

but what you dont understrand is that weed is a blessing, put here by god, meant for use. and it doesnt have negitive effects, I can just as easaily find a source that says the oppisite as to what yours said.

you cannot compare weed to cigarettes ever. your source says that if one were to smoke the same amount of weed as cigarettes, but the average cigarette smoker smoke about two packs a day, where a heavy marijuana smoker would smoke 1/50th that. and that is a HEAVY weed smoker. weed is not addictive, and unless you smoke as much weed as you do cigarettes (which would mean your out of your mind high every second of your life, and you have absolutly no money) it would not have any effects on your health in your lifetime.

also, you are brainwashed. for some reason, the governtment sets up DARE and things to brainwash people into thinking marijuana is bad. IT ISNT. IT IS A GREAT THING. it causes peace, happiness, love and has ZERO negitive health effects as I just proved. If they were to spend time warning people about drugs that are ACTUALLY DANGEROUS they would save a lot more lives than lying about weed; a safe drug.

OPEN YOUR MIND. You have ZERO evidence of ANYTHING bad about weed. in canada, our neighbor, it is legal to have weed. illeagle to smoke in public, but leagle. but they have a higher tax on cigarettes; LIFE EXPECTANCY IN CANADA IS HIGHER THAN US. think about it.

weed is also not used to escape reality, so dont pull that string. it is used to enjoy onesself, and facilitates in the NATURALLY living life to the fullest.

btw, I am against any drug that has dangers of negitive effects. I am an intelligent and educated person; who would never do anything that would harm my body. I want to live life to the fullest, but without consequences, b/c consequences mean your life is not the fullest.

marijuana is a natural plant, making it illeagle is.. UNNATURAL. the prohibition of weed has created more fuss, and done more damage to society than the plant could ever do. also think, any stoner is always the most chill and nicest person ever. so it doesnt effect people to be bad.

So here goes. The harrison tax act (early part of the 20th century) required you to have a ‘tax stamp’ to own cannibis products. the catch is you couldn’t get the stamp unless you had the product. Anti - Cannibis legislation began in the south-westernn states as an excuse to deport immigrant populations (the most common users of marijuana in the region). Later, federal legislation came in to place due to lobbying by the wood paper industry, for fear that hemp (the basic form of the cannibis plant) and the ease and speed of which it could be grown, would turn the wood (tree) paper industry upside down (as hemp is a far easier product to produce and work with – for many reasons) There was a large congressional hearing – to which a bare minimum of legislators attended. The head of the AMA (american medical association) stated that there was no medical reason to make it illegal, and was promptly asked to leave and informed that his opinion was irrelevant to their decision.

So the real reasons it is illegal is due to corporate lobbying and racism.

Funny thing, there are cannabinoid receptors in the brain, and as mammals we produce certain quantities of cannabinoid chemicals. Deficiencies in these can result in chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Thus an acceptible treatment for these can be the use of cannibis.

the real reason these drugs are still illegal is due to the paranoia instilled in us in the 30’s to justify the legislation, and the simple fact that the anti-drug paranoia has run amok.

You may think pot has made people you know dumb – odds are they were dumb to begin with – and/or are heavy users of other drugs or alcohol. I for one have been a regular marijuana for many years, and as you can see can still form a coherent, reasoned argument - at least as well as anybody on this page - so I for one do not see any significant impairment on cognitive functioning.

But yes it basically comes down to lobbying by established, versus non established, industries.

Also on a side note – the purpose of the use of marijuana marijuana, AND alcohol always has been intoxication – whether it is mild, or severe.

The driving issue – There are numerous reports that cannibis has little or no effect on your driving abilities, while alcohol has been shown to have massive effects. But lets break this down simply. It comes down to knowing your limits. The vast majority of people I know who smoke, always know their limits, and when they are too high to drive safely. However these same people have no regard for the amount of alcohol in their system in regard to driving. I would safely conjecture that marijuana does not impair yo8u in such a way that you are unaware of the level of your impairment – whereas alcohol most definitely does.

All these people explaining why marijauna is illegal are all full of it. They are looking at everything that can go wrong. When you hear legalization of marijuana, it is very misleading.Legal marijuana would still be illegal in the sense, you wont be able to drive under the influence, like alcohol, you would not be able to just grow it in your back yard, it would still be illegal to grow so the tax could be implemented. But why not just buy it on the streets still? The reason is why risk getting in trouble, if something is legal, if you can go buy it from your 7-11. Their would still be an age limit and jobs could still fire you if you worked “under the influence.” The legalization of marijuana would extremely make a difference with today’s economy. The rules and regulations would be the same, maybe some difference, as alcohol.