Considering government subsidies of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?

Question

if all you have to say is "because it's illegal etc" please don't answer i want good solid conversation
THC causes a reaction in the brain that stimulates a mood of euphoria. This stimulation can also by caused by eating chocolate. Marijuana use continues to be a growing trend in the U.S. To dispel the common "gateway drug" myth, statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that the majority of people who use marijuana do not use any other illicit substance. With this growing trend, the money that could be made off of a government tax on the sale of marijuana is incredible. Right now, drug enforcement programs are a drain on the national budget while making no profit to pull funds from. By legalizing marijuana, the money made from it could go to support these expensive programs. Ralph Nader put it best when he stated the following: "Annual drug deaths: tobacco: 395,000, alcohol: 125,000, legal drugs: 38,000, illegal drug overdoses: 5,200, marijuana: 0.

please not, it was really hard to put all the facts and reasoning in this seeing that yahoo only allows so many characters...

also, i use it responsibly. I work an 8-5 job, maintain a relationship with the man i love, and go to college. I am studying to become a pediatric doctor. I am not saying smoke get high with all your friends etc... etc... or doing it while driving, about to work, or while operating equipment.... i am against those things, but whats wrong with sitting at home after dinner and enjoying a joint? i don't smoke Cigarettes nor do i drink... i get sick maybe once a year, and i have almost all A's in school. You drink your bud, i'll smoke mine. There are REAL drugs out there that need to be dealt with. Marijuana users are not violent.

Answer 1

Justice.

Answer 2

Whether I agree or disagree, marijuana use is illegal. That said, if you're going to work to legalize it, you should know marijuana has higher content of tars and carciogens than today's cigarettes, and we've seen that that is what the anti-smoking groups are using to sell laws on smoking. They also don't have any solution on where the loss of tax revenue will come from to replace tobacco revenues. The states which participated in the tobacco settlement have yet to spend any of the money for programs for which they claimed a need, whether not smoking or informational campaigns, or treating diseases that are linked to smoking. If you get marijuana legalized, its use will probably be physician controlled--you'll need a prescription. If not that, you'll still have to regulate its use by pilots, drivers, heavy equipment operators, and others who must have alert faculties while at work. This probably should include pharmacists and doctors. Nicotine causes the neurtransmitters to speed up which aids in mental alertness, THC does the opposite. As far as gateway drugs go, it is probably because marijuana is illegal that providers also have access to other, more expensive illegal products. Why sell a nichol bag when you can sell something more expensive and more addictive? If you can succeed in getting marijuana legalized, I hope you take into consideration those "under the influence" deaths because right now, they're just lumped together. And I don't want to be a passenger on a plane whose pilot had a joint or a drink the night before. Occasionally, marijuan has lingering effects and usually only habitual drunks get flashbacks or DT's.

Answer 3

It's just another double standard and another way of trying to legislate morality. RIght or wrong, marijuana has been labeled as the "evil weed". Alcohol is just as bad, but it brings in millions of dollars in tax money, and -- perhaps more significantly -- many legislators are probably alcohol abusers themselves. Tobacco is the worst of all, both in addictiveness and the number of deaths it causes, but the legislators are in bed with the tobacco industry just as much as they are with the oil industry. I'm not sure whether I'd advocate legalizing marijuana or outlawing tobacco, but even if they did both, that double standard would make more sense than the existing one. Sometimes you just have to scratch your head and say, "What were they thinking?"

Answer 4

According to the world drug report to the UN last year marijuana use is not a growing trend in the USA.

If you look at the DEA reports there are as many articicles and research that will contradict what your alleging.

All that aside the current implementation of the war on drugs is silly , that I would agree upon.

Answer 5

Although I do think it should be legal (because alcohol is legal), I do think that some "facts" about it are kinda skewed. None of these defenses for grass really show how addictive it really is, and how much damage it can do to your brain over a long period of time. I've had a lot of friends who have been "burned out" by grass by using it for a long period of time and they ended up sounding like idiots. No matter what the stats say, I know that, from SEEING it myself, grass causes damage to the brain, and is addictive.

But like I said, it's no worse than alcohol. And if you're responsible, you can use both with no harm.

Answer 6

For an excellent article on the "War on Drugs" go to the URL: