And please, don't tell me it's for some health or moral reason. If that were true alcohol and cigarettes would be illegal right now along with weed. So please, if someone has a REAL reason, please share.
It was based on a ill informed scientific study or a lack there of, and personal belief that got intertwined with politics. Marijuana got vilified for being the world most dangerous drug, when recent scientific study has shown the opposite. I still believe it should be a controlled medicinal plant. If anything alcohol and tobacco should be banned. I don't recall any medicinal purposes for those.
My answer will come as a surprise because, Although I have never smoked and never will in future too (As stipulated by my Faith i.e. Sikhism), yet I have seen many people doing it very closely too. Hence, I feel that I know the reason why marijuana is illegal. Reason Number 1 The Liqueur Lobby is behind the Ban. The liqueur lobby has promoted the ban on marijuana, because If people start consuming marijuana then their products (Whiskey. Beer, Rum Etc.) shall suffer a loss in sales. and lead to less profits, which obviously they do not want. Remember, Liqueur trade is Huuuuuuuuuuugggggeeee, whereas marijuana is invisible. Reason Number 2 The Government can not Tax it !!! If and When People start growing grass in their own homes, the government may not be able to Tax it. Keeping a count of who is growing how much and where is next to impossible. The government wants everything to go throiugh the Tax-Net. Reason Number 3 The medical fraternity is supporting the governments for their own benefits. It is often observed by those who smoke Pot that the marijuana does not lead to any health loss, whereas other forms / substances do. In other words, marijuana users do not flourish the medicare providers. Hence, The medical professionals are also the vocal party against it. I think that the above is good enough?
The hemp plant was set to replace quite a few products in the textile industry, and marijuana usage doesn't help the government when it comes to war-support efforts. Both are well documented. Marijuana was slandered as a 'dirty' drug for '*****'s' that inspired their 'satanic' (jazz) music. This yellow journalism was backed by the government and various wealthy enterprises that were threatened by the use of Marijuana. The CDC does not have record of any death directly attributed to the use of Marijuana, unlike Tobacco and Alcohol which kill thousands annually. UCLA conducted research in 2006 that showed no increased risk of lung cancer from marijuana use. It actually showed a decrease. The Hemp plant could replace many dirty industries and provide better, and cheaper products. The finest paper in the world is made from Hemp, not wood pulp, it's what the constitution is written on (and any modern legal document). If you are an environmentalist you absolutely must support legalizing Hemp. If marijuana was legalized it would undermine the finances of many black market industries which support violent crime globally. Instead their profits would go to legitimate business and the US economy.
the real reason is because of dummies like joe , and also due to the fact that the DEA would stop receiving billions of dollars to fight against marijuana many DEA agents would lose there jobs and the government would also lose billions , from what i know the government only wants to stop marijuana for this reason alone
Simply put, it's because of the greedy people that profit from it being illegal. It started with William Randolph Hearst's Paper Company back in the 30's. Cannabis was set to replace timber for paper, which would have put Hearst out of business, hence the beginning of a long series of BS propaganda designed to smear it, beginning with the greatest comedy of all time, Reefer Madness and into the garbage ones of today. Until the 30's it wasn't even called marijuana. It was called by its real name, Cannabis. The smearers started calling it marijuana, a Mexican slang word, to appeal to white racists of the time. They also associated it with Jazz and Blues Music, since many blacks musicians in those genres smoked it, again to appeal to white racists. Of course other industries would lose huge amounts of money too if it was legalized. Tobacco industry-unlike tobacco, cannabis does NOT cause cancer or emphysema, and kills zero people every year, unlike the hundreds of thousands tobacco kills. It's also not physically addictive. Alcohol Industry-again, marijuana kills zero people every year as opposed to the thousands who die either directly or indirectly from alcohol use. Unlike alcoholic beverages, marijuana makes you happy and lazy as opposed to violent and aggressive. No one gets into fights on weed, or assaults or rapes people. No one beats their spouses or children while smoking weed. Pot impairs your driving far less than alcohol does. Pharmaceutical companies-Medical marijuana is the best pain killer there is, so no one would want to buy all things like aspirin or tylenol or all those bogus, made up drugs they make that have countless side effects. Plus, again marijuana is not physically addictive so these companies wouldn't be able to take advantage of people. Again, thousands of people overdoes on prescription drugs while not a single person has ever overdosed on marijuana. Prison Industrial Complex-relies upon people being unjustly imprisoned for profits, so marijuana provides them with tons of victimless criminals to clog our prisons with. DEA-needs to create the illusion that its useful in order to justify its mutli billion dollar budget. It's a lot easier to bust people for weed than it is to actually go after real drug threats like meth and crack production. Marijuana gives them bigger numbers to add to their records so that they can keep sucking up taxpayer money.
Simple answer, because former president Taft created a bogus smeer campaign all for the sake of protecting the paper and lumber industries that America got most of its income from at that time. Hemp can be used to make all sorts of inexpensive products and would have put them and other industries out of business.
Alternation of the mind is very dangerous and can be dangerous for both society and those who have it. I think it can cause a lot of crimes indirectly and not necessarily through the legalization of marijuana. I think that alternation is very bad and unhealthy.
I have heard the fact about textile industry. It seems to prove to me that it was all done for commercial reasons. As to why alcohol and tobacco is still legal, I think it is because too many people who are charge of legalizing things or making them illegal consume alcohol and tobacco themselves.
As other people in this thread have said, I think it has a lot to do with hemp. A lot of industries would suffer if hemp was used for the hundreds of functions that it is capable of, and obviously the heads of those industries would want to find ways to stop hemp from ingraining itself into the American eye. As marijuana and hemp are closely related, it was easy to say "oh, marijuana (and hemp) cause all these problems- lets do everything we can to keep them out of the hands of the public." I am not completely certain of this, but from everything I've read and been told this seems to be the case. It could also be that the effects of marijuana were actually deemed too severe to remain legal but this seems a little "too obvious."
I don't necessarily think that's a reasonable answer. Alcohol is not illegal, its consumption is not bad and in fact it is healthy, but not to drunkenness. The problem is with the alternation of marijuana and its power in comparison to alcohol.
I have raised my view on this a few times and I still think the difficulty of regulation is the culprit. Of course, the negative stigma of being a stoner and the effects of weed is there. But the shear difficulty and making sure that no individual grower would add some crazy stuff in his batch to get the best high for his consumers is present in weed. Tobacco needs a big company which is very visible. Alcohol is pretty much the same. That's why selling of homemade brews is illegal in most places.
I have not used it but it was said that it is really addictive. Maybe more addicting than cigarettes and alcohol just like saying it gives "high" feeling. Alcohol is said to be just okay to consume provided on a minimal amount while the cigarette does not have any benefits to its users but their is a large industry behind it and that means money talks.
It's all about the Benjamins. @thepieeatingjay and @tarverten have summed up my feelings on the matter to a T.
This would be due to information not being accurate in terms of it having any benefits for us and also if this were to be legal than pharmacies would lose profits and also people, would turn to marijuana instead of buying man made medicine. Governments can't profit from it as most people would grow it from their home or in a private place and this would not see them gaining any benefits which will only happen if they can tax the ones making this or selling it. I reckon that it would cause many companies to go out fo business and this would affect, them really bad and the losses will cause them to have issues occur and close down due to this being legal.
Money and ignorance. I mean, from the trial and the campaigns when it first got ban, I remember that "It makes nice white girls want to party with black people so it's bad" was one of the official arguments...! Even if people are against smoking it, usually for their own personal beliefs, it would be so easy to say "let this be illegal up to 18" and then people can be deemed old enough to make their choices. Also, hemp has other uses -- and if its growth was allowed and profitable, we might just make a very nice ecological switch to hemp cotton and paper instead of what we have now.
Like most things we don't understand, we automatically assume its bad for us and should be illegal. Which is silly because the government would pull in a ton of tax revenue if they regulated it like they do cigarettes and alcohol. There are ways to prevent people from growing it in their own homes without a license and any other problems they may have with being able to tax it. I personally don't smoke, but I don't have a problem with people who do, especially for health reasons. To me, its no more harmful that cigarettes or alcohol, so the safety excuse really isn't valid. I think as more information and research comes out about it, we'll see it being regulated and legal everywhere in the next 5 years.
I agree with money and ignorance. Especially the money part. As soon as the government is able to step in to regulate and tax it, the $$ pop up in politicians eyes. In areas where it's not legal and taxable, they make money off of it by arresting and prosecuting those using it. At least around here - most people caught with it get let off with probation and a big fine. More money in the government's pockets.
My soon to be husband is Dutch, as you might or might not know weed is legal there. Still the government targets people who grows more than 3 plants in their house, because from what I have heard it is illegal for individuals to do that. If you grow only 3 plants you will be fine, at least in Amsterdam, because even though it isn't completely legal... most cops turn a blind eye to that. But if you grow massive amounts of weed in your attic you will surely be in trouble. We were actually talking about that today... it's just a herb! The effects aren't that great! I think it also depends on the person, my soon to be husband really tripped when he tried the weed from a little coffee shop located near the center of Amsterdam. He almost gets run over by a girl in a bike, lol. He described the whole thing to me... I could NEVER experience that.