Why is weed illegal, when alcohol isn't?

I really don't understand how a plant/drug like weed is illegal when much more dangerous and lethal substances like alcohol and tobacco are legal. It seems to me like a double standard or discrimination against this comparably harmless drug. Alcohol and tobacco are responsible for some of the leading causes of death. Honestly i wouldn't be so confused if Alcohol was also illegal.

Only real arguement i've heard is that weed is a gateway to dangerous drugs (this argument feels so weak). Alcohol and tobacco can lead to same tendencies. Moreover, if weed were to be legal people wouldn't have to go through drug dealers and other junkies (who will be the ones pressuring them to try other stuff) to buy some weed. So, only reason weed is a gateway drug is because its illegal.

I have a feeling weed is illegal because if it were legal then prescription companies (big moneymakers) would suffer heavily. Weed relieves stress and many other problems without the need to purchase these expensive drugs (that come with many side effects)

It is all because of money. Cotton manufacturers could lose money because of hemp cloth. Hemp could also be used to make paper, which would result in a loss of profit for lumber and paper companies. Alcohol companies would lose money due to competition. It is quite well know that cannabis is much less harmful than alcohol, and the alcohol companies know this, that is why they spent money against Proposition 19 in California.

I also don't agree with the gateway drug theory. What is the first recreational drug most people are first introduced to? Alcohol. The reason alcohol is still legal is because when they did try prohibition, it simply didn't work, and the gangs made a killing. Of course, cannabis prohibition doesn't work either, but alcohol is more socially acceptable, this is changing however.

I do think it should be legal in the way alcohol is. It would be far easier to regulate because the current drug dealers would not be able to compete with the prices, so it would need to be bought in the way alcohol is. Of course, there is the argument that people can just grow it themselves, but most people would not want to do that as it takes time and proper growing, ect., and it would be easier to simply buy it. It would also be far safer for the buyer. For some people this is not an issue if they get their bud from a friend or something like that. It can be very dangerous to buy from someone you don't know, and there is also a chance you will be ripped off.

All of these things, however, mean nothing to the big companies that would lose business due to legalization, and they have the money to fight against it. I can almost guarantee, however, that we will see legalization in our lifetimes. More and more states are legalizing medical marijuana, and it is a matter of time before it can be sold in the way alcohol is sold currently.

I'm sure i missed some stuff, but that's basically why i think it is not legal

the government is trying to protect you from killing yourself.
It's a right wing view that banning the use of substances which harm you will lead to a lower rate of use.
unfortunately this is not true. Laws related to such substances are in no way strict enough to prevent abuse. Sadly it would be more effective to completely legalize these substances then to continue with the terrible ideology currently in place.

but yeah why does it matter?
just don't smoke weed, then it shouldn't bother you.

It is legal where I live People can go to ''coffee shops'' where the main entree isn't even coffee, lol, but weed. Most people are smoking weed in those coffee shops, it's full of tourists. There are many all around the city, even outside the mall where my SO works. You can just go in there and buy some weed, you can smoke it there or take it home. They also sell special brownies and so on. If you go to Amsterdam any day... the air in that city smells like weed. Mostly downtown, of course

Amazingly enough most of the people I know don't even care about drugs or weed, lol. Most people I see smoking or doing other drugs are tourists. In my mother country things are different though.

When it comes down to it, it's all about money. They can't make money off it yet, so they deem it "illegal"

In here weed is illegal and most they will say that it is because weed is a bad substance. I think all those substances (weed,alcohol and cigarette/tobacco) can really cause bad effects in health. But alcohol of just consumed moderately might not be as bad as the other two. But all can be addictive and still exist in the market because of the money/income.

After the invention of the printing press came out people discovered hemp paper (comes from a weed plant). The inventor of the printing press saw this as a threat so he started printing false articles about weed to brainwash people.
That snowballed into the issue we have today.

Alcohol WAS illegal UNTIL the government started taxing it, thus ending the prohibition/speak easy era. They don't care about anyone's health. And it damn for sure isn't about morality.

It's all about what they can tax and what they can't. THat's the bottom line.

Marijuana is illegal because of the smeer campaign president Taft created to protect the paper, lumber, and cotton industries. Hemp (the plant root weed grows from) is a cheap source of making almost everything imaginable. It could have destroyed many industries.

And yeah, the guy above had it right, it was ALWAYS about what they can tax people on. NEVER about what's "right" or "healthy". If that was true alcohol and cigarettes would be illegal right now.

That's a question I have been asking for years. The truth is that marijuana is a big threat to our economy. The plant has so many uses it puts big company's in danger. It makes great oil and would a competitor to people who make fuels we use in cars, oil based paint and cooking oils. It makes a more durable fiber than cotton. I think it's also illegal because it's easy to grow and hard to tax. There a hundreds of thousands of people in jail because of marijuana. If it becomes legal what will our government say, "oops"? There are so many poloitics involved it's stupid.

I don't agree with this either, I used to be an alcoholic and nearly drank myself to death until I found marijuana. It truly frightens me to know how this system works. Hopefully in the next 10 years, we will have logical thinking leaders, rather than people who are guiding us as society, all by the book. The book that was written over a hundred years ago by our forefathers.

This seems to be a question that's asked time and time again. Personally I think marijuana should be made legal, if not that then at least decriminalized.

The trouble with making it legal, is that they would start to tax it, so people have to think if that's a good idea after all. Would you be willing to pay extra? Pay tax on your weed?

There is a big indecision there for me. I would pay tax, sure. I wish that the people who have to be sly and hide their grow would be able to easily obtain licenses so that they could continue making money and not be smothered out by new laws.

That's what would happen. The growing would be taken over and sold to the highest bidder, probably tobacco companies and your weed would be processed and sold in shops, along with cigarettes.

The government would make extra millions a year on revenue, so it wouldn't surprise me if this will be what happens.

Apparently weed wasn't illegal in the U.S until after the Mexican revolution. According to stories I've read, the U.S authorities sought any excuse to detain and deport any Mexican immigrants. Racial prejudice is what prompted this and since they knew many of the Mexican immigrants used weed for relaxation and as a medicine it would be easier to force out as many of them as they could. And later in the 1930s for similar reasons the abuse and sale of marijuana was prohibited by law. That's how Marijuana came to be illegal and has remained so till now.

While the reasons given for it's prohibition weren't good enough I believe that making it illegal was a wise decision they made.

I never did know about that. Info like this is important for society to know. I like to think that our society has become a lot more intelligent and loving, holding on to old laws like this is only going to hinder development on our planet.

Alcohol is an historic substance and if it was considered illegal, apart from the economical blow, it would cause a riot because many people are addicts.

The governments of the world make far too much money from alcohol to make it illegal. Plus, drinking small amounts of alcohol isn't as harmful as taking small amounts drugs - with alcohol, there is that definite scope to keep it within moderation as long as you're careful. Of course, if we're on this website, we probably don't have that ability so it's an irrelevant point. But MOST people CAN and DO drink sensibly. There is no such ability with drugs, I don't think.

I do believe that there should be better information out there about alcohol intake, because more people probably have an issue with it than even they realise themselves!

@Cheeky_Chick, the thing is, I've been using weed as a way to help take the edge off of alcohol withdrawals, but I could honestly throw the rest of the stuff away and never touch it again. It doesn't have addictive properties, like alcohol and other drugs do. In my opinion, alcohol is hundreds of times more dangerous than weed. You could see the evidence for this in almost any "deaths / injuries due to the influence of " when comparing the two. The only reason I can see weed justifiably being illegal is due to the long term effects of it, having said that, again alcohol is much worse in that regard. I agree that it's more likely due to how much money people make from alcohol, that is preventing it from being illegal.