Why is marijuana illegal in the United States?

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Marijuana is illegal because of its background, which mostly consists of:
* Racism
* Fear
* Protection of Corporate Profits
* Yellow Journalism
* Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
* Personal Career Advancement and Greed

Before, weed was legal, as it was used for legal tender *hemp,* and there were no added chemicals.

Anon

It can't be taxed like they'd like to since anyone can grow it in their back yard. It's all about the money.

Eric E

Because its too hard for the government too tax it. Plus all the lies that are told about marijuana.

Ryan

Because you can grow it in your back yard which cuts the government out of the picture so they cant make money off it! This is my opinion by the way.

Just Some Guy

I don't know but I'm sure someone somewhere is making money by keeping it illegal.

Felonius_Monkey

Originally the paper industry lobbied Congress to make it illegal because they didn't want to compete with hemp. Today it's more about the values of the Republican party.

If we legalize & tax marijuana we'd make enough money to effectively fight the war on harder drugs like cocaine and crack.

freakoutgirl

Because the government can't tax it. Ha ha

Citicop

We are a democracy, and most people want it that way.

Convince about 60% of the people that legalization is the way to go, and you get legal dope within a year!

mellie

Regretfully so, unless you can get a medical prescription and purchase from approved growers. It is pretty easy to get for $70 in CA, or so I hear. haha.

patrotjon

because marijuana was villanized by politicians in the 50'-70's and still goes on to this day,, it's a shame because I believe it has some good benifits, and is great for relaxation.

PS,, theres never been one case of someone who goes out and gets stoned and kills someone behind the wheel,, when was the last time you heard about someone smoking a j and killing a family of 5,, never,, it's usually alcohol.

The answer girl!

Because it cant be taxed and made into a profit/

Jennifer

ok for 1 theresa doesnt know what she is talking about. it doesnt kill ppl. it isnt bad, ppl are just jealous so stop hating.

but im not sure y so let me know when u find out

Lurch

Because the Federal Government hasn't yet found a way to regulate and profit from it.

mistueme

I happen to wonder the same thing, because alcohol can be far more dangerous, yet it is not illegal.

I'm not sure about other states, but here in Mass they are no longer considering having marijuana in your possession a criminal offense. Instead, people with it will be fined, which I think makes more sense.

nmrhs77

go to amsterdam you can smoke that crap any where

Matty M

because it is not taxed

Tyler K

Ohhh man where do I start. Private prison owners absolutely love it. They profit soo much from pot smokers and dealers. This gives the US opportunities to go after other countries that try to beat them in marijuana sales. Marijuana causes so much corruption and bull@#$@ that I'm surprised America still falls victim to the propaganda that the government feeds them. If I were president the first thing I would do is legalize marijuana. Prohibition never worked in the 30's and its not working now. IT IS A PROVEN FACT that prohibition caused an uprising in murder, corruption, and other crimes., And after prohibition was demolished crime went down. Now that we have this war on drugs guess what its all full fledged again. History repeats itself and I'm not surprised that the average TV watching bafoon will believe what the government feeds them.

m c

After all the "because it kills your brain cells", "Makes you crazy", "High death rates", "Government cant tax it" answer I felt it necessary to answer your question. Everyone of the people claiming these things are ignorant to the truth, and THAT is the reason marijuana is illegal in the united states.

As you see in the answers to this question people ACTUALLY BELIEVE the government on what they say about it. To inform those of you who don't know or believe otherwise marijuana will not kill your brain cells, it will not make you crazy, it will not kill you, and yes, the government can tax it. The only responses with some truth were the informed ones with facts and the ones saying that someones making money off it. They were exactly right, who lobby's against the drug reform movements? Judges, Police, Pharmaceutical companies, Probation/Parole officers, Jail guards/wardens, District attorney's and the list goes on.

All of these jobs are related to marijuana prohibition and make a lot of money of the illegality of it. In Massachusetts when question 2 was passed just a week ago the district attorney's, police chiefs and police officers and other law enforcement personnel formed rallies to stop it, used our own tax dollars to propagate against a state referendum (which is illegal and lawsuits have been filed) and used "on the clock" time to work together to make sure this measure didn't pass. The law states that officials are not allowed to use their work time or money to interfere with a state referendum, only personal time or money. Thats how dedicated they were, thankfully question 2 passed anyway with a huge margin.

The government could tax the substance the same way it taxes cigerettes, over half of what you pay for a pack of cigarettes is tax, this would be millions of dollars of revenue for the federal and state governments each year, instead of spending millions on enforcing the laws, court trials, jail costs ect. Marijuana was made illegal just a couple of years after the prohibition of alcohol ended in complete failure, the prohibition of alcohol lead to an increase of organized crime, flooded jails, a general sense of mistrust with the police/officials, a poor economy and an increase in hard drug use. After they realized they're mistake in making alcohol illegal they re legalized it and pushed to make marijuana illegal instead. At the time America was a severely racist place and the majority of marijuana users were Mexican. Marijuana laws were pressed as means to harass Mexicans and to keep jobs created in the time of alcohol prohibition.

The leading medical association at the time advocated against the illigalization of marijuana however congress disregarded their recommendations. The fact that someone falsely claimed marijuana as an insanity plea in a murder trial at the time claiming "It turned me into a bat and i didn't know what I was doing", the judge actually believed, so did newspapers and published stories about it before the effects were well known. The man re guarded as the expert on marijuana at the time also claimed that he injected the chemicals in marijuana into the brains of dogs and everyone of the died, of course the newspapers and everyone else believe him also, it is now commonly know that marijuana is not fatal in almost any amount and that his "experiment" must have been improperly performed or lied about, but with little knowledge of the drug at the time most people believed it.

Since then the debate over marijuana has been a heated one with two very different views on it, the government continues to claim things like the previous posters mention such as "it kills brain cells" or "will make you crazy/lead to mental health issues" through programs such as D.A.R.E. and others, despite the fact that every scientific study on the drug has shown that it is completely harmless, In fact, THC is one of the safest therapeutic substances known to man, the smoke is what causes 99% of the damage from marijuana smoking due to the carcinogens killing off cilia in your lungs and increasing your chance to respiratory cancer(although this is still debated), these are the same carcinogens you would be inhaling from almost any natural plant matter such as green tea or pine logs.

In the 1970's president Reagan commissioned a group to fully study the social, economic, legal and health issues regarding the drug. The report came back recommending the president take immediate steps towards the legalization of the drug, although in fear of bad media and his approval rating he disregarded the commissions recommendations. The commission was named the Schaffer commission and copies of it can be found all over the net. The debate over marijuana is a heated one but has slowly been shifting to the truth, that it is a benign substance much safer than alcohol and tabacco and that it should be legalized.

quizyorn

so you fall slave to the system and ferment your organs in good ol' alcohol, no one ever died from marijuana use.

Andrew J

Because it's associated with liberals and non-conformists.

cambrexia101

Originally, it was to have an excuse to arrest Mexican immigrants was back then.
Now, it's because it's too difficult for the government to tax; what with people growing and selling it to each other on their own.

I do wish it were legal, though. It'd be nice to have some of the ridiculous ignorance here die out.

To the second answer: It doesn't kill people. It is impossible to OD on marijuana; the worst that can happen is that some people either throw up from too much marijuana and some people (like me) just fall into a deep sleep. Not a single death in all of history has every been attributed to marijuana; and you say that people who smoke it are stupid.
I'm pretty sure my answer was more informed and better written than yours, and I'm a little bit high right now (I'm coming down.)

blip

Actually, tobacco is a whole lot easier to grow in your backyard than marijuana is and the govt. doesn't have any problem taxing or controlling it so I don't think that's the issue. All the old fuddy-duddies in the govt. have bought into the scare tactics of times past and have classified it in their minds along the lines of heroin or crack so they'll never pass legislation to make it legal (but eventually might possibly for medicinal usage). What they fail to see is that it is much less impairing than alcohol and if they did legalize it and tax it, we'd probably solve our economic crisis. I say go for it!

Poppy's slave.

i believe it was because of racism toward mexicans bringing it into the united states. Although it was already growing naturally all over the usa. They made it illegal to break down on them. I know they did something like make it illegal to posses it unless you had a ticket or some sort of license but they didnt give any out. It was a way to bring people in and get them in trouble for having it. Why it remains illegal? lol there is not logical reason. They should ban cigerettes and alcohol for 5 years and make weed legal for that 5 years and see how it changes society.

Franklin

Because it is not the drug of choice for most people.

There was an attempt to make alcohol illegal in the 1920s. Prohibition caused so much crime and violence that it was quickly repealed. Even judges were going to the speakeasies and bootleggers.

When marijuana use is as common as alcohol use, or close to it, it will become legal.

Now, while I believe that psychedelics, such as LSD, and marijuana should be made legal, I believe that there are some drugs that should NOT be legalized. Drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth cause great destruction, for their users, for those associated with these drugs' users and for their communities. Marijuana and psychedelics are, like alcohol, largely non-addictive and users consent to their use. While you can argue that the initial use of cocaine, heroin and meth is voluntary, these drugs are highly addictive. Within a short period of first use, use of these drugs is no longer addictive and the user will do anything he or she can to acquire the assets to purchase and use these drugs.

There is, IMHO, no reason for marijuana and many psychedelics to be illegal. These drugs are not addictive and do not contribute to crime. Marijuana can be favorably compared to alcohol. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to prove that alcohol is safer than marijuana given the number of deaths attributed each year to alcohol use from disease, fatal car crashes and alcohol-infused violence. Marijuana is a relatively safe drug that can used in most people's houses and apartments. While governments might want to regulate the places where people can use psychedelics for safety purposes, psychedelics are safe drugs. A psychedelic parlor, for instance, could be set up to encourage good trips to those using the drugs. The age of the user could be regulated and each user could also sign release forms acknowledging the possibility of future episodes due to storage of the drug in the body's fatty acids.

Some have said marijuana and psychedelics lead to harder drug use. This is true only because they are illegal and the same dealers who provide marijuana and psychedelics sell the harder drugs. Making marijuana and psychedelics legal will take these drugs from the control of the dealers and prevent them from being gateways to harder drug use.

Legalization will allow taxes and fees to be raised from the sale of marijuana and psychedelics. And, what is legal can be regulated. Just as alcohol and cigarette sales, content and advertising are currently regulated by federal and state governments, sale and marketing of marijuana and psychedelics can be regulated if they are made legal.

heather b

Because the government does not know how to tax it. If they can not make money off of it and they know people buy it they are going to make it illegal.

rooster_nugget

there are numerous theories on why. one of which is because there is no way to tax it or regulate it since anyone with even a moderate green thumb can grow it.

people need to stop trying to get it legalized and put there efforts towards getting it decriminalized. start small and we may actually see a result. hope, change.

Qwerty Q

all these answers are pathetic.
well i live in canada so i'm not sure if it's the exact same or not. all drugs arn't illegal. salvia is a drug 10 times as bad and that isn't illegal. reasons that it is illegal is because the government doesn't want people driving while under the influence and there is no way for them to check except for a blood test which they are not allowed to do on the road. understandable, but it also has been proven to enhance your driving ability. taxing it can be difficult. but there is no way of stopping this. people are going to traffic it and buy and sell wheater it's illegal or not. last year 600,000 canadians got charged with possession of marijuana and now have criminal records so they have trouble getting jobs. if you look into politics, some parties want to decriminalize it, but a lot of people are douchebags.

Jennifer C

high death/stupidity rates and... fiscal reasons.

Mike J

Because it makes people act differently, and impairs their judgement. It is something that should be private, kept away from children, not flaunted.

SYRUP

Umm of course
but people still
do it

Aaron

yes unless youre taking medical marijuna

answer mine pep

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