Can anybody tell me why marijuana is illegal?

halsca

The very first drug laws targeted patent medicines that contained cocaine, morphine and heroin so very early in the 20 century those drugs were either outlawed or very strictly regulated.

California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah added marijuana to the list to make it easier to deport Mexican migrant farm laborers during tough economic times when they weren't needed.

By the early 1930's you had the beginnings of the jazz and swing era. Many people thought this new music and dance style was decadent and immoral. Many folk also noted that a good many jazz musicians were people of color who smoked cannabis openly after all it was still legal in most areas.

Along comes newspaper mongol William Randolph Hurst and professional promoter Harry J. Anslinger. Hurst hated swing and wasn't very fond of Mexicans or blacks. He also had a major interest in the paper and timber industry and was worried about competition from hemp.

They got together and concocted some false statistics, Anslinger was quite a show boater and promoter, he proudly put together what he called the "gore files" which with the help of Hurst's 27 newspapers basically scared the American people into thinking "marijuana was the worst drug in the history of mankind" which set the stage for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.

Tambra

It's all about taxes. I agree with you ... if it comes from earth it can't be all that bad, if used in moderation and maturely.

zaphod73@att.net

Racist fear...back in the VERY early days migrant Mexican workers used to bring it to the US and share it with their white employers, friends and families. This usage increased a sense of tolerance where white women were becoming "friendly" with the migrant mexican workers which made the white men employing these Mexican migrant workers angry. So, they outlawed it...(research this and you'll see that it's a fact). The first attempt to outlaw marijuana came when the US Government employed a very neat little scam (the same way they were able to stop the sale of automatic weapons during Prohibition) where they passed a law that said you couldn't posses marijuana unless you had a government "stamp" that allowed you to posses it...but the US Government conveniently never created the stamp nor a process to get one...which is what they did with automatic weapons like the Capone favorite, the Thompson Submachine ("Tommy") Gun.

(Bliss is very wrong, pot is not addictive...but, like biting your finger nails, it can be psychologically addictive.)

xtina

It's a mind-altering substance. But hey has anyone smashed up a car while high ? I think the gov't should tax the heck out of it, and take all the money to solve all our country's economic woes

Megg

It's illegal because one can get high off of it. I can't quite remember what the chemical is called, but it does cause some problems with your body. Marijuana does harm your lungs, as does any smoke inhalation. Many people call it a "gateway drug" which is the biggest issue at hand. Supposedly any crack or heroin addict didn't go straight to crack they started with pot until they stopped getting high so they moved on to better drugs. Methinks I agree with the taxing of it though, since cigarettes are legal and people have actually died from those. Talked about this at lunch one day, rumors floating around in Jersey of legalization, just throwing that out there.

ps: never done any drugs before! Didn't want any assumptions...

Tobias Maximus

It's illegal because during the depression, white people found themselves unemployed and in need of jobs. The only jobs available were in the agriculture sector. Guess who were doing those jobs then and now? That's right, it was Mexicans. Local governments quickly came up with a way to "legally" get rid of them so that white boys could get their jobs. Mexican farm workers were marijuana users so the U.S. government oulawed the use of cannabis in order to arrest and deport migrant workers. It's still illegal until this very day.

The same concept is used when prosecuting crack users vs. cocaine users. Whites know that crack users are generally black so the laws are tougher on them. Cocaine users are typically white so they get a slap on the wrist. So, to answer your question, the reason marijuana is illegal is because of racism......good luck!

blissdds

3 Reasons...
1. Liability. There is already so many alcohol related deaths, including traffic accidents that if that number increased significantly by legalizing pot the public might not stand for it and then we would be looking at some form of prohibition again. Ultimately by deciding what is legal and what is not the government assumes a certain amount of liability, including political liability from the politicians.
2. Pot is very addictive. A lot of laws about substance control arise on how addictive a substance is. Cocaine is extremely addictive and that is why it is not legal in any form for medical purposes any longer. Marijuana is an addictive substance.
3. Price control. If you legalized pot the price would go up. Unlike other products, almost all pot is grown south of the border and if it was legal there would be domestic producers in larger quantities. Unions would then com in and by the time everything was said and done, pot would cost more...be careful of what you wish for.

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