why is weed illegal?...?

Question

is our gov't so ****'d up that they will make things like moonshine and weed illegal only because its untaxable? i know its not due to the "toxins" in it.. look at legal beer.. its all man made ryte? well pretty much.. brewing..bottling.all that. but weed is simply harvesting.... the only people that feel weed is a harmful substance are those who have never even tried it or at the least dont understand it.. like alcohol and cigaretts there should be obvious restictions and laws on the use of weed but it shouldnt be outlawd' completely...

Answer 1

Weed is great. I totally advocate the use of medicinal and recreational marijuana. I beleive it should at least be decriminalized. Let the whole nation be allowed to possess at least 3 ounces, and up to 10 plants for personal use if they want to use it. Marijuana cases just waste valuable time and manpower when cops should be investigating real crimes and serious offenses. Our prisons are already severly overcrowded without confining people for marijuana related offenses. Alcohol and cigaretttes (all tobacco products really) are proven to be way more detrimental to human health than marijuana. It's just stupidity. Good question.

http://nurture.nature.com/aggademia/item/2006-08-01-study_finds_alcohol_and_tobacco_more_harmful_than_marijuana_lsd_or_ecstasy_drug_reclassification_should_follow

To the chick who said weed kills people...hello!! So does cigarettes and alcohol!! http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/factsheets/Tobacco_Related_Mortality_factsheet.htm

Ma'am, weed itself does not kill people. It's also improbable and greatly impossible to OD on marijuana. Educate thyself, and stop blindly beleiving everything the government crams in the sheep manger for you to eat.

http://www.drugtext.org/sub/marmyt1.html
http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/healthmyths.html
http://www.marijuana-seeds.biz/marijuana-facts-and-information.htm

Answer 2

Chances are it is not weed at all, but is instead a legal herbal alternative. As for illegal weed, most people in the UK get a product which has been cut, fiddled with and is certainly not what it says on the tin. While I do not smoke the stuff myself, I do think it should be sold through pharmacists, so that there is no chance of contaminants being added, and users could be offered support to kick the habit if they wanted to. It would also stop these idiots from fiddling their electric so they can grow the stuff. I have visited six houses where cannabis is grown in the last 12 months, and the people inside do not realise that you can smell the gear from the street. Amusingly these were all people in their 20s, who live amongst pensioners, which is why they have never been caught.

Answer 3

If you read the book "Marijuana: the First 12,000 Years" you will get a really good answer to this question, and will read an entertaining book. The short answer to your question is that attempts to eradicate opium use during the 1930's were so successful that the "drug czar" of the time needed something else to blame for problems in this country so he could keep his job! After realizing that hispanics (mostly from Mexico) were smoking marijuana and that violence was associated with them (remember that this was during the time of the depression so it wasn't the marijuana causing the violence - it was jealousy over who got the jobs because Americans were desperate for work - any work at all) the "drug czar" refocused his attention on marijuana. The movie "Reefer Madness" was commissioned by him, and the public, not knowing any better, believed what they were told. To say that there are no risks involved with smoking marijuana is incorrect - there are carcinogens in the smoke, even though there is also an anti-carcinogen in the smoke. People also do stupid things when they are "high" - like leave a baby in a hot car on a summer day (this actually happened - I'm not making it up) until the baby died. I agree that it should be regulated and taxed like cigarettes and alcohol. I've even heard that the national deficit could be paid off in about 4 years if it was legalized, but politicians would probably take the money for pork-barrel projects, so it would probably take longer, if at all. "Weed" is illegal for reasons that are primarily political, not practical. If the politicians knew that they could get political support from the majority for legalizing marijuana, it would become legal.

Answer 4

Here's my "pat" answer, but there's so much more I can't fit it in yahoo answers.

Weed/Marijuana is illegal because, supposedly, it is a 'gateway' drug which could lead to cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD etc. And like you said it's untaxable. The social stigma also makes it something generalized society would never accept as something you could just buy at the corner store or liquor store.
Though more deaths have occured from alchohol than weed, it's still got a bad rap.
It is pretty backward way of thinking, since people have no problem with society accepting anyone having a drink or making wine/beer in their home. Also alcohol/beer companies have been used almost entirely to advertise sports events which is a huge multi-million dollar industry and obviously helps the govt's money issues also.
It's a pretty messed-up situation all in all!

Answer 5

Boy that was a thesis! The actual answer is this; the government has Trillions of dollars invested in keeping it mostly illegal. If it were legalized, more money would be spent on subsiding weed farmers, trying to collect taxes, controlling the price and walking the lines that are walked with alcohol. Its an expensive Pandora's box that can't be addressed in the current political climate.

Answer 6

Actually, moonshine is legal if you make it for your own use. If you don't sell it you can make and drink as much as you want. Weed is illegal no matter what. (even if the idea of outlawing a plant that grows in nature seems absurd to me).
You are correct in thinking it is about taxation. If it were legal and they made packs of marijuana cigarettes for $3-5 per pack they wouldn't sell since people could just grow their own better weed for alot less.

Answer 7

Weed is illegal because of William Randolph Hearst (hemp was competition to his timber holdings), the DuPont company (hemp was competition for textile production) and Henry Anslinger (a federal bureaucrat that said smoking pot provoked criminal behaviour, BUT, it is really illegal because the Fed's will not allow it to be taxed! Oh, I almost forgot that fledgling oil companies saw hemp oil as a threat as well, imagine that!

Answer 8

Weed was outlawed in 1937 because William Randolph Hearst had too much money invested in forests and a new machine, the excoriator, would extract hemp from the plants to make a higher grade, lower cost paper which could be renewed faster than from trees.

Answer 9

It has nothing to do with it being a drug.
The reason is because along time ago cotton growers lobbied congress to outlaw it because they were afraid that it would put them out of business. You see Hemp can be used for many things such as making paper, cloth, rope, etc.. It just happens you can smoke it;s cousin Cannabis. They were out law-ed because of big business not because of its drug abilities. because if the goverment really cared about peoples health it would outlaw achoaul. there are more deaths caused by it then any other drugthen you have tobacco, but it all come down to money and who can lobby congress with it. its not about health but profit.

Answer 10

You know, I also wondered this question back when I frequently smoked it... You see, when I am drunk, I wish to pick fights and get into trouble... when I smoked weed, I wish to sit around and have a sandwich, which is more terrible to the community?