Why do voters keep rejecting marijuana initiatives?

Question

Why do the marijuana referendums keep failing?

Why can't people think logically about our existing drug laws?

Why can't people see the harshness of our existing laws?

Does it make sense to send fully employed, harmless people to jail with violent criminals?

From the perspective of individual freedoms, does it make sense for the Gov't to tell us that we can't smoke marijuana?

Why is it that people keep voting against marijuana laws?

Why is it that people are so closed to this issue?

Answer 1

That is exactly it, it comes from years of the govt educating them that it is harmful, but I see more people die every year from alcohol than I EVER will from weed. People just need to be re-educated.......see people like above don't know anything except the negative "pothead" label. They don't realize that there are MILLIONS of marijuana users who are perfectly fine and very much functioning in society everyday. Many very successful people use it and if everything the govt says about it were true, that would not be the case. There will always be those that can't use it, like there are those that cannot handle alcohol, but that does not mean it should be illegal for all. It has it's uses and it is time that people woke up to the fact that it is MUCH less harmful than alcohol, which by the way, can affect a person with just one drink.

Answer 2

Political pressure. At this time there is no money in it for the greedy politicians except what they can get by making it illegal. Look how long it took to make a case against the cigarette companies, yet people still smoke. Did you know that unless you have a government contract or a pass from the government you cannot grow hemp. Which makes wonderful long-lasting clothes. Levi's were originally made of hemp and cotton and lasted for years and in some cases decades. One typical cow eats four acres of alfalfa and provides poor milk, four cows can eat one acre of hemp and provide enriched natural milk. What is wrong with this picture. No cut for the greedy politicians if marijuana or hemp was legalized. But if you paid $20 for five machine rolled joints don't you think the politicians would benefit? Of course, they would. For the same reason that they haven't made it illegal to smoke cigarettes and cigars. They are making too much money to care whether it is healthy or not to the common people.

Answer 3

The biggest reason pot won't be legalized even for medicinal purposes is because big pharma is against it! They have a synthetic THC that they want to pedal, homegrown cuts into their profits. Also why isn't industial hemp not legal? No THC in that and it has many uses. Stronger then denim, makes good paper(the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are written on it) and can be made into bio-fuel.

Answer 4

Gateway drug my skinny butt! Alcohol is by far the biggest gateway drug there is. And the marijuana initiatives are actually being passed by voters. What's happening is the federal government is sticking it's nose into the rights of states. California said ok to medicinal marijuana use years ago, but the feds continue to raid the dispensaries. All of you that agree with this, think about something for a minute.....you allow your doctor to prescribe morphine, a far more powerful narcotic, with no one objecting. But when that same physician, using everything his vast experience teaches him, wants to prescribe marijuana to allow a cancer patient the ability to feel hungry again, the feds step and say that he's not qualified to make that decision. Complete and utter b*llshit! And I can pretty much guarantee that at least half of those writing how horrible marijuana is are saying it while downing a glass of wine or a beer.

Answer 5

as many have posted above, about cigerettes and alchol
Well alchol and tobbaco is a little harder to produce than pot. So it would be almost impossible for the goverment to tax it. Cause ust about any one can grow decient quality pot.

Me personally i dont see it any more dangerous than alchol,
Its just learnin how to respect any substance that you take into your system.

Some may say oh pot heads dont contribute to society they just lay about. Yea some do but just as many are out there workin hard. I also know plenty of drunks that dont do **** besides take up space. So what the difference, and dont try to say one legal and ones not. Cuase that has nothin to do with people personal decisions to be a bum and not contribute to society.

May not be the best answer but thats the way i see it.

Answer 6

it should only be legalized for medicinal use and even then extremely closely monitored. They have this stupid march in april I think it was, something about 4 20. Out of all the people I saw walking down the street in the pot cloud haze around them I saw very few who looked like they could need it for medicinal use, not that you can always tell from looks alone, but the vast majority of supporters in that stoned mass were teens and young adults who are supporting legalization for recreational use which I don't agree with. I also don't agree with the fact that they were allowed to walk down a main street in the downtown core at the beginning of rush hour smoking pot as they pleased. It affects many others wich users don't seem to care to see. The smell of pot makes me sick to my stomach. I have had neighbors and friends smoke around me and I hate it. The neighbors I could do something about, I spoke with the landlord because every night they were sitting under my bedroom window passing around a handfull of joints which was all coming in my bedroom window. It was bad enough that it made me feel sick but it didn't stop after I got pregnant, which they knew about because I talked to their mother from time to time, I had no problem with her. I was damned if I was going to let pot smoke harm my baby especially after we had tried so hard to conceive.

Answer 7

I used to be a pothead. I have the addict gene. I'm glad it isn't legal because it messed up some important things in my life. Cigarettes don't impair your judgment. One sip of beer doesn't impair you. One hit of weed really does effect a person. I'm not saying weed is bad in general but it isn't for me and I know a lot of brilliant people who have ended up no where because of it. If you want to smoke fine...in fact this asker should probably take a hit right now and calm down. I just don't think it should be legalized as a recreational drug because it would cause more problems than it would fix.

Answer 8

Most marijuana mesures that make it to the ballot don't give enough protections to those who would rather not be around it. The punishments are not severe enough, in these initiatives, to keep marijuana users from going out in public while under the influence. Question 7 in Nevada failed, in part, because of this fact.

Answer 9

Drugs are horrible. Would you like to see one of your children smoke marijuana or cocaine? What kind of message would we sent to our children if we legalize marijuana? Many of our students would smoke and it is a gateway drug. We'll be seeing more drug addicts than we imagined. Besides, they're a threat to the people living around them.

Answer 10

Maybe the penalty for it should be like the penalties in other countries. That would take care of it.
No seriously, there are actually people who care about their kids future. No one wants their kid to be stoned. It's a sneaky topic. Not rebellious. Just sneaky and dishonest.