why is marijuana illegal? are there any good reasons for it?

Answer 1

In short: because it is bad for you.

Marijuana smoke, along with any other kind of smoke, deposits soot onto the mucous lining the lungs. Over time, the brachial tubes that deliver oxygen to your blood stream get blocked. Guess what? You've got a disease that will plague you for the rest of your life. Fun?
As a side issue, when you smoke anything the percentage of oxygen you breathe in is sorely limited by the volume of smoke. When your brain does not get enough oxygen, little bits of it start to die. Not good.
On top of the smoke problem, there's the neurological effects. Someone that is using a hallucenogenic is not going to be a fully functional human being, and more likely to do something harmful or stupid or (as is often the case) both. This is the primary cause for government restriction.
And like everything else, marijuana costs money. Even if it were legalized, it would cost a good deal of money, probably more than an equivalent quantity of cigarettes (which, along with drunkenness and alcohol I think should also be illegal). Some spend huge amounts of money on their cigarettes.

Answer 2

I am highly disappointed to see so many people saying that marijuana is illegal because it is a drug. If this were true, there would be no such thing as prescription or over the counter drugs. There would also be no such thing as legal recreational drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and caffiene.

To put into perspective how non-dangerous marijuana is -- Alcohol, tobacco, caffiene, certain prescription medications, lots of foods and mostly all other "controlled" substances cause harm to a fetus if the mother exposes the fetus to the substance during pregnancy. There is no conclusive evidence that a fetus exposed to marijuana has any such effect and more, there have been studies proving that exposure to marijuana have improved cognitive abilities of children up to age six, but no such improvement apparant after that age has been proven.

So, seriously, it doesn't make a lot of sense that marijuana is illegal. Except that there is too much money made by the government to legalize it.

Answer 3

Marijuana is called the Gateway drug in treatment and recovery circles. You can ask any addict who is hooked on coke, heroin, meth, whatever: they will tell you that pot and alcohol were the first substances they used and abused. That, alone, is a very good reason to keep it illegal. There are many other reasons as discussed in some of the other answers. Yes, I know, many people think their drug use will never go beyond the use of pot. That may be true for some, but most people believe they will never become an addict until they are one. Why take the risk?

Answer 4

Here's the real reasons.

1. Marijuana, when combined with alcohol, amplifies the effect of alcohol 3 to 10 times (even pro Marijuana advocate sites admit this). This can cause a person with a below-legal limit of alcohol to be equivalent to a drunk driver. Most marijuana users also consume alcohol, at least casually.
2. A glass of wine with dinner, or a casual toke with friends, is not a problem. Excessive use of marijuana, like the excessive use of alcohol, is the true problem. Alcohol has a field test that law enforcement can use to prove and convict excessive users. Unlike alcohol, there is no "on the street" method of determining excessive use of Marijuana. Breath tests don't exist, and pee and blood tests are impractical. And since marijuana impairs judgement to the same degree as alcohol, but does not impair motor skills at the same rate, field sobriety tests are less acurate with marijuana even it the driver is dangerous on the road. Since there is no way to validate or convict excessive use, and excessive use is dangerous to the community, it must be banned altogether. Note: That is why most marijuana users are not convicted for use, but for possession, which is the only act that is reasonably provable. Alcohol users, on the other hand, can be convicted for use even if there is no alcohol in the users possession.

You want to legalize marijuana? Come up with a repeatable field test for excessive intoxication, and I'd bet it would be legal in your lifetime. As far as medicinal legalization, I don't know enough about it to judge.

Answer 5

Marijuana became illigal when the people of the forestry industry had a study done on it. They exposed mice to unreal extreme levels of marijuana and thus proved the harmful affects. The reason they wanted this proved was because hemp is a better product than trees as a resource for fuel and paper. Also, help has a much quicker turn-over rate. It takes just a season to grow hemp but many years to grow a tree.

Personally, I haven't smoked marijuana in many years. I have found the THC levels in today's marijuana far greater than in the past and I never really liked it anyways...just made me sleepy and hungry.

Answer 6

The government have not tested marijuana to know it's true impact and side effects. However they have no problem mixing up chemicals and pumping them into animals and humans and call them medication; "Oops, I didn't realize this would make someone commit suicide".

Anyways, the government cannot make that much money off of a plant that is provided by nature. Also they have no documentation to show what marijuana can do to a person. They only speculate and make it illegal.

Personally I believe it has to do with money. Pharmaceuticals make BILLIONS. Why else do they charge $190 for 10 pills of antibiotics? Why else is health insurance so high? Why else are seniors who have worked all their lives stuck with nothing to show for?

Some states in the USA you can get it prescribed legally for medical purposes.

Answer 7

This should be considered based on health issues and social issues. Alcohol kills more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. Cigarettes also kill more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. I say that if marijuana were regulated and sold in liquor stores, the taxes could be used to help people addicted to the more harmful drugs. Also, this would take marijuana out of the hands of drug dealers who sell lots of other drugs which can truly be life threatening.

Answer 8

Legally It is a drug and a powerful one. All drugs even recreational drugs have a cost to society and are therefore can be subject to regulation. Just as cigarettes and alcohol, morphine, cocaine etc have regulations to deter misuse like sales to children for example.

Morally should marijuana be legalized? Well it is fun to smoke but that's not a moral reason. It is very difficult to ban something once it is accepted as legal. Prohibition being a good example.
Once a nation decides ok we will allow it there is almost no going back.

The world is trying very hard to overcome the health problems of cigarette smoke and making good progress, Why would we open a new floodgate of health problems. Yes hemp makes great rope and paper, it is unfortunate that there is THC in it as I would like to buy hemp products but really anyone saying they want marijuana legalized because it makes good rope really is daydreaming of having their own little garden of "fun flowers" to dry and smoke.

Answer 9

No, no, no. If marijuana and hemp were legal, our textile and farming industries would boom. Im from Iowa and right now our farms are dropping like flies. With hemp crops, that by the way produce over 3 times the income of corn, bean and wheat put together, our local and national economies would boom. The government wont make marijuana legal until they find a way to profit more from selling it than they do busting you for it. Plain and simple.

Answer 10

There are no good reasons for it. they should legalize marijuana, because it's God made, and make cigarettes and cigars illegal, they are man made and deadly even to those that don't actively use them. I would vote to legalize marijuana. i'd like to go to 7-11 and ask for a pack of skunk or something :)