Why is marijuana illegal but alcohol and tobacco are available and regulated?

Answer 1

As a nation, in the UK, we are trying to reduce the consumption of tobacco by making smoking look antisocial, and we are possibly about to tackle the large-scale abuse of alcohol which disfigures city centres at weekends. We don't need another drug that also carries problems. Well obviously this is a very biased person with not a lot of knowledge on the topic at hand. First of all I would like to correct something in your question, every bad thing about cigarettes is not also present in marijuana, in fact it seems there are less dangerous side effects to marijuana smoke then to tobacco smoke. Marijuana does not seem to cause lung cancer, shown by a 20 year study done by a well renowned scientist in the field of lung cancer research. This is the link to a YouTube video with Dr. Tashkin talking about his study's findings(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmQ16cGBHU). As for the brain cell destruction, this is very surprising yet it seems true as yet another study shows that brain cells are not destroyed but rather that new neurons may be created when the active drug in marijuana, THC, a link to this study is here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8155 . I would also like to talk briefly at how appalled I am every time someone posts or says such an ignorant post or comment about marijuana, because like the person above they just assume marijuana is a bad bad drug that will kill you if you smoke it which simply isn't the case and like Dr. Tashkin says in the video they couldn't even find a single marijuana related lung cancer case in the entire state of California (which as we all know is where medicinal marijuana is legal) so you may ask, "How can it still be illegal if all this is true?" And honestly I am still trying to find an answer to that. I am the first person that answered, and if you analyze my answer in an unbiased way, you will see that I said nothing against marijuana as such, and that is because I have no knowledge personally of its effects. Medical opinion seems divided on marijuana, as it is on many legal and illegal drugs. I stand by what I said - drugs in general bring problems if abused. Illegal drugs also bring problems of crime - you could say that the whole drugs scene is a means of transporting finance from the legal sector to criminal barons. * I am a different person, but I am thinking there is no way for the government to regulate people selling it so they just make it illegal. People can't grow tobacco or make alcohol as easily as you can grow marijuana so they can't make money off of marijuana so they just make it illegal. * I agree with the person right above me. If they sell marijuana, they'll have to tax it, and there's no way that they're going to do that. Which is why I want to move to Amsterdam so damn bad. Why haven't you already moved to Amsterdam? There is a long article in the British 'Daily Telegraph' of 7 march detailing a family's harrowing experiences over several years when their eldest teenage son went crazy because he was addicted to marijuana. Of course, other families suffer because of addictions to other drugs, including alcohol. Unfortunately, the writer of that article is misinformed, like many people about marijuana and the affects. First, let me say that while marijuana is illegal, it has less long term ill affects than does most soda pops. Second, Marijuana is not as addictive as say breathing air. Third, marijuana does not make you "Crazy". Fourth, if the "son" wanted to quit, he could have at any time. People with little or no experience with this herb can not in good conscience dictate the facts as they want to see them, but should rather study to show themselves proof of the truth. The writer of that article was not misinformed in that it was her son who went crazy and she had to deal with the effects on her family of the way her son behaved, becoming a criminal by stealing money to pay for his habit and by becoming generally antisocial. That's how drugs can affect families. That said, it does seem, as a philosophical point, illogical that some drugs such as alcohol and tobacco are legal when some are not. Would the legalization of relatively harmless drugs such as cannabis prevent the transfer of cash to criminals, which is what much of the drugs scene is about at present? Don't forget that a drugs chief has just been arrested in Columbia who would get his men to murder policemen for hundreds of dollars, and would think nothing of murdering his commercial rivals. * That is such an extremely rare chance of that happening that its not even funny you must of never smoked before because it generally makes you more relaxed and for some people can make them antisocial(paranoid)while their high like above but hardly make them go crazy I've never seen that before so who knows but its not like alcohol which makes half the people who drink fearless of anything (law enforcement and other people) and the only reason there are any crimes associated with marijuana is because of all the low lives that are beating stabbing or shooting people for their $10 instead of just giving them a dime because they have no value of life so therefore if marijuana was legal there would be hardly any crimes associated with it other than people stealing snacks from gas stations but would most likely make people a lot lazier but as long as you don't go to work or school high which a lot of people do anyways your good * I doubt that it is so uncommon for people on marijuana to act unsociable/and to turn into criminals. The person above has problems himself/herself in that he/she has obviously not studied hard enough at school to be able to express him/herself in reasonable English. Is that in itself a symptom of a drug habit? Seeing that alcohol is legal and it brings problems, would legalization marijuana bring fewer problems? * Well, anti social behavior in most drug abusers is very common. Marijuana doesn't have that affect, generally. Nor do people who utilize the herb commit crimes, other than possession and possibly sales and trafficking (which are only crimes because Marijuana is illegal). If you want to know the truth from someone that actually self medicates with marijuana, when I feel the effects of marijuana I am more focused, and highly sociable. I choose not to be around people who don't use marijuana and some people that do, because I have nothing in common with them. I choose to be around people that use marijuana and some people who don't because I have things in common with them. I don't talk to my family very often because I have nothing in common with them. All of that is my choice, not my family's, not a doctor's, and surely not anyone else. What I choose to do with my life is my choice, just like it is anyone else choice to do with there's. Like I said the decision to not be sociable with my family, just like anyone else, is my personal decision. Don't blame the herb, remember we are talking about a naturally grown plant here, not a processed drug like Prozac, Cocaine, Seroquel, Hydrochlorothiazine, Lisinopril, or any other processed drug, for what people themselves would actually do even without the herb. Some people would act like they do towards their families just because their families treat them like dirt. Others would only associate with their families out of some sort of psychological obligation. Just like the rest of the world! Hey, maybe anti socialism towards family isn't because of this herb, but rather because the person chooses not to associate with them (that sounds like me). My point is that this herb, marijuana, is less likely to cause the ill effects that these propagandists would like us to believe. Yes, it can have some ill effects but not the way these propagandists want us to believe, its most ill effect is the inability to stop eating even when you should. * I agree with the person above me.... its a choice whether to smoke or not. You can't really complain about it till you've tried it. * Unfortunately, in this world, there is seldom such thing as a straight answer, so 'confused as heck' pretty well sums up the general state of knowledge about relatively harmless drugs such as marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes. * I don't know of very many long term side effects. The main one that everyone agrees upon is that people who utilize this herb have a diminished short term memory. Personally after 24 years of smoking this herb, I do have some short term memory loss ie. I'll go to the store and forget why I went. Other than that I have NO long term ill effects. One of the questions that I think should be asked is what are the benefits to using Marijuana recreational? I have my own opinion, but I want to hear everyone else.

Answer 2

A long and complicated answer. In short one could say that it was by the works of Harry J. Anslinger and people like William Randolph Hearst during the 1930s. It's a cultural thing, no doubt. Both alcohol and tobacco have been in our cultures for quite some time, while marijuana was introduced into the mainstream by Mexican immigrants during the early 20th century. The American government played on the fear of these Mexicans saying that it made them crazy and lead to rape, murder, you name it. When people started doing tests on cannabis sativa, it was clear that marijuana made you a pacifist, not an aggressive rabid lunatic. They then claimed it was a threat to national security because the communists would use it to remove the Americans will to fight.

I recommend watching "Grass" which is narrated by Woody Harrelson as well as "The Union - The Business Behind Getting High" if you haven't watched them already.

Answer 3

Becuase cannabis is bad