Alcohol is one of the most deadly drugs and yet it is legal. Is this because the upper/middle classes prefer this drug to others? How can less dangerous marijuana be illegal then? Because it is used by younger and lower class people? How can the justice system even pretend to be blind or ethical under these conditions?
2007-12-06 07:57:37 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
There are really three reasons why marijuana is currently illegal in the US.
And at one time, alcohol was illegal as well. All that Constitutional Amendment to outlaw booze did was create a whole new criminal class, known as the bootlegger. Al Capone made his bones (and a fortune) selling bathtub gin and smuggled Canadian whiskey (See the movie "The Untouchables").
However, back to pot.
1. Marijuana is a true "weed"; able to grow almost anywhere. It has been described as America's largest cash crop, ever. The US Government will not legalize it until they can control its production and distribution.
2. During the mid 1930s, (during the Great Depression)mexicans who worked menial jobs in the south and southwest were "taking jobs away from out-of-work Americans" (funny how little has changed in 80 years) and the only way to arrest and deport was to make pot illegal, so that any mexican caught holding was arrested, jailed or deported, freeing up cheap employment for white men.
3. The cotton-fiber rope, cotton clothing and (oddly) the barbed wire industry of the 1840s and on, felt stiff competition from a popular and fast-growing hemp industry. Clothes and material made from hemp are MUCH stronger and more durable than their cotton cousins, but making products which last isn't really the "American Way" (if it lasts forever, why would you buy MORE of it?) so the cotton industry exerted pressure on elected officials to outlaw hemp, which is the parts of the pot plant which CAN'T be consumed.
Interestingly, several states have held legal referendums, asking their residents whether they are in favor of legalizing marijuana or not. In several states, Arizona and Alaska being two of them, the referendums passed. In Arizona's case, the State legislature then decided the voters really weren't trying to legalize it and threw out the referendum results. Moot point anyway, as Federal anti-marijuana laws somehow "supercede" state laws on the subject.
2007-12-06 09:33:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's because it was readily available and attempts to make it illegal made the use and sale of it worse. Crime rose during the prohibition years. This prompted that law to be overturned, not because it was a good choice but because restricting it proved impossible.
Marijuana being less lethal or less dangerous is not good criteria to legalize it if we can all agree it is bad for you on some level. Don't think for a second that marijuana use is confined to the lower class and the young. BTW: the upper class's drug of choice is cocaine, which is also illegal, and believe me they put the pot smokers to shame with what they get into!
2007-12-06 08:09:36 · answer #2 · answered by Pfo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
everyone uses marijuana.... lower class, middle class and upper class, you wouldn't even believe who smokes marijuana.
alcohol is much dangerous than marijuana, without a doubt and I'm not sure why its picked to be legal over marijuana.. because marijuana is only a plant but they consider it a "drug" but in my opinion marijuana is legal because I really have seen people go extremely dumb, forgetful and losing motivation by smoking large amounts of marijuana.......but doesn't mean I don't love it
hahaha
and I guess cause they can tax it, which I am now finding out.
2007-12-06 08:03:13 · answer #3 · answered by Mrs. Flynn 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's all about money. If the government was smart they would legalize pot and put restrictions on it like alcohol then tax the crap out of it.
As for you MS. D. All the pot smokers I know, including myself have good paying jobs, own their own homes and pay their bills on time. Not a single one lives in the parents or grandparents basement. The 1 alcoholic I know got kicked out of his run down apartment and moved in with his alcoholic uncle. He also has a Bush/Cheney sticker on his 92 Prism.
2007-12-06 09:40:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chinagirl cracks me up! wahh ha ha. Seriously though, alcohol is much more dangerous than marijuana. Marijuana is a drug, is it not? Alcohol is social acceptable, just like someone else stated, which means it will never be illegal.
2007-12-06 08:46:15 · answer #5 · answered by megnalon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Weed should be like a speeding ticket.
You get caught with it with less then an oz and you get a ticket...
Why waste tax money on people who have bad habits? How many 100,000's of people are in jail because of weed? How many billions are wasted on these people?
After spending some time in Amsterdam you realize that its the drunk people running around causing problems.
2007-12-06 08:11:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
1. taxes, I agree with other people, and
2. because of drug mafia... people who are addicted to harmful drugs, I believe they can quit and smoke MJ, a home grown plant, compare with Netherlands... do not forget the drug business makes the most money after weapons
2007-12-06 08:49:33 · answer #7 · answered by BBJ 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think it's because alcohol is an older drug. since the middle ages. already very established in society. there is not support for making it illegal poltically. check out prohibition times -they tried that once.
2007-12-06 08:01:08 · answer #8 · answered by Sufi 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
They tried to outlaw alcohol and it did not work, pot is illegal and until it is made legal that is enough said about that subject, most potheads still live in their grandmothers basement keeping it Real.
2007-12-06 08:03:19 · answer #9 · answered by MY NAME MICHELLE I HATE AMERICA 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Do you think MJ just became illegal. Taxes babe you cant tax that which can be grown at home.
2007-12-06 08:01:52 · answer #10 · answered by ? 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋