It is far time we set the record straight on why marijuana will never be legal in the United States. By legal, I’m referring to it being readily available in the sense that consenting adults can visit a store a purchase marijuana when they so choose. This is an argument that brings us a number of possible explanations as to why it is illegal but the right answer never seems to surface.
People claim that the U.S. government should legalize marijuana and reap the tax benefits that come along with it. A large group of people around the world rely on the plant for medicinal purposes and those suffering terminal diseases in this country rally for its legalization as well. I even hear arguments that it would help our economy because farmers could make a great deal of money selling this cash crop instead of produce or tobacco. I’m not here to dispute any of these claims because I just don’t have the data to do so. However, I can tell you that none of these will make marijuana legal in the United States.
How about the people that say marijuana should remain illegal? We hear arguments on that front claiming that it is a carcinogen and will cause cancer. People take that argument a step further and say that this will create undue stress on our struggling health care system–wrong and wrong. Others fight the claim that marijuana would be a good source of tax revenue by stating that there is such a large black market for the drug that we would be unable to get a substantial revenue stream because people would still buy the drug from illegal dealers to avoid the tax. Is tax evasion the reason marijuana is illegal or even a contributing factor to its illegality? Again, the answer is no.
The true reason marijuana in the United States is illegal has more to do with dangling chads and Jim Beam than it does with any other reason.
To understand why marijuana is illegal, we need to look back to the January 16, 1920. On this date, alcohol sales in the United States became illegal and lasted a long and dry 13 years–the Prohibition era. Prior to this date, alcohol consumption was entirely legal but the Protestants, a strong force in national government, thought the country had seen enough. This group thought that alcohol was creating a number of problems for our country and thought the best solution would be to ban the sale entirely. This did not come without consequences. People began creating their own alcohol and an entirely new black market formed, bootlegging the homemade goods. Bars continued to operate in secret and were soon controlled by organize crime groups such as the mafia. These thirteen years were some of the most profitable for the mafia as they gained a near-complete stronghold on speakeasies and illegal alcohol trafficking.
The reason these 13 years created such a problem in our country was quite simple. It is much harder to take something away from someone than it is to never give it to them in the first place. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote from George Santayana that says, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Our government has learned from the mistakes of prohibition and definitely remember 1920 to 1933. If marijuana is legalized and we experience problems as a result, it will be even harder to prohibit it once again. This is the one and only substantial reason marijuana is illegal.
The fact is, marijuana is a mind-altering plant that reduces motor skills. I have heard proponents of the drug on many occasions say, “I can drive a vehicle better when I’m high.” This is an absurd notion. So what happens if marijuana is legalized and DUI deaths rise? Is our government ready to risk this? It is safe to say that DUI-related deaths would rise because consumption of the drug would surely rise–the two are positively correlated. Imagine how many people in our country would try marijuana if it were available the way cigarettes are. The stigma of breaking the law would be gone and many fence-sitters would give it a shot.
One more point–stop for a moment and think about what it takes to become elected to a government post. Candidates must appeal to the broadest range of citizens in order to attain the most votes. Do you truly think the best way of winning over voters is to support the idea of legalizing marijuana? Marijuana users are in the minority and candidates know this.
Put quite simply, marijuana is never going to be legalized to the point that adults can buy it at their discretion because of the lessons learned from prohibition. Once it is out in the open, there is just no turning back. If the government thinks they are having a tough fight now to keep the plant off the streets, imagine how hard it would be once people have had a taste of it.
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21 Responses From Our Readers
1.) Lukifer at November 16, 2007 around 3:38 pm
“I have heard proponents of the drug on many occasions say, ‘I can drive a vehicle better when I’m high.’ This is an absurd notion.”
Do your research. While marijuana imposes some impairment of judgment and motor skills, it also increases so-called risk aversion (the legendary stoner paranoia at work). You drive slower, take fewer chances, and most importantly, unlike being drunk, you are *aware* of the fact that you are impaired, and usually too frightened of the road to drive in the first place. Several clinical studies have demonstrated that the effects of driving while stoned are relatively minor. This is not to say that driving while high should be legal, and I’m sure it has been involved in a handful of tragic accidents, but it’s a poor argument to claim that traffic deaths would suddenly increase. Drunk driving is the real danger here, and everyone knows it.
“If the government thinks they are having a tough fight now to keep the plant off the streets, imagine how hard it would be once people have had a taste of it.”
Sorry, but we’ve already had a taste of it. Depending on which numbers you believe, about 5%-12% of Americans smoke pot regularly. This is a genie that’s not going back in the bottle. Moreover, I would suggest that legalizing cannabis would decrease consumption of a truly dangerous drug, alcohol, in favor of a safer, non-violent, non-lethal high.
Moreover, we already *have* all the consequences of Prohibition: an underground black market run by criminals, zero tax income on a heavily trafficked crop, a huge prison/police industrial complex, and countless billions of wasted taxpayer dollars. It’s a strategy that’s ineffective, wasteful, tyrannical, and above all, really fucking stupid.
2.) Grateful_NotDead at November 16, 2007 around 4:59 pm
Spoken like a true pothead. Basically you’re saying you drive better high because you know you’re messed up and shouldn’t be driving. I think you’ve smoked one too many.
3.) R. U. Reddye at November 18, 2007 around 1:42 am
Let’s ask the Europeans and our northern neighbors why they don’t criminalize pot usage. Either way the old school political die hards will be out of office and our generation will find a way to make pot legal and a viable source of revenue for the U.S. and everyone will have the munchies. Plus, it will mellow the war pigs and give jobs to their distorted insurgents, along with their opiates. I’m not going there right now, that monkey has been the straw but the camel likes the fix. Yes, I’m SMALL and I don’t have a medical problem but pot takes the edge off me and who needs ST memory.
4.) Lukifer at November 19, 2007 around 12:13 pm
@Grateful_NotDead: And I think you’ve smoked one too few. Of course pot doesn’t make you drive *better*. The point is that it’s not even remotely similar to alcohol or drunk driving, and any such comparisons are specious. Booze tends to encourage risky behavior, while cannabis tends to discourage it (usually in favor of Doritos and Playstation).
5.) Tim at November 19, 2007 around 12:47 pm
Actually, ending alcohol prohibition ended the illegal alcohol trade and reduced power to the ones operating it. With MJ prohibition we are allowing the same type of profiteering to come from this drug. It causes a black market which make it easy for a risk averse entrepreneur to make a lot of money. As long as you prohibit marijuana the people who shouldn’t be making a lot of money off of it will continue doing so. It has nothing to do with cancer rates, nothing to do with impaired driving. Marijuana has three tiers of business fighting them. Medicinally, because the drug companies would like to keep patents on medicine. They love overcharging people and force them to take different drugs with their own sets of advantages and disadvantages. Recreationally because people would drink less alcohol and tobacco, which would hurt the already legal drug dealers. Petro-Manufacturing because a lot of patents would become obsolete with hemp becoming legal. We could make everything from fuel to quarter panels, fiber glass, and thousands of different products. We also have cotton and tree farmers, hemp would significantly reduce demand for their inferior products. That is why marijuana is illegal, not because it’s too risky to change policy. This is a poorly written article.
6.) Tim at November 19, 2007 around 2:30 pm
Also Marijuana was legal at one point which would kill the whole theme of your article. It was first outlawed in 1936-37. Therefore, we have and can go back.
7.) Bard at November 21, 2007 around 3:46 am
This article should be titled “Why I think marijuana is still outlawed in the US”
I don’t smoke but I don’t think that’s why I have enough function to realize this article is poorly done.
8.) name. at November 28, 2007 around 8:10 pm
well i think politicaly has a little to do with it.
its easy to grow you dont have to put anything in it.
look at cigaretts. nicotine 4000 chemicals ect.
you cant make cigaretts.
and alcohol, you have brew it and add other stuff.
(both addictive)
i meen pots not addictive and its healthier than both of those.
even the pills that they make now like xanex and vikiden there both addictive and hard to make.
people could get it way easier but if the stores sold it for less.
then the government wouldnt be loosing anything.
9.) EE at November 30, 2007 around 1:51 pm
i think it’s worth mentioning that not only could the federal govt. reap the huge tax benefit from it’s legalization, the 2 billion dollar plus expenditure they see every year to arrest and jail people who use it illegally would virtually disappear.
effectively we could turn that red number to a black number every year.
how could that not help?
not to mention the families and lives that wouldn’t be ruined because of a single conviction on a kids record for doing something 10% of us have tried anyway
10.) TRS at January 5, 2008 around 3:16 pm
Theres also the fact that crime comes into play. If you think about it people who smoke marijuana only break the law of having it or paraphanilia. Those who smoke marjiuana only smoke it at a house and dont hurt anybody or do anything but sit and have fun.
11.) TRS at January 5, 2008 around 3:38 pm
Forgot one thing,the government should put a tax on marijuana but also a regulation on how much you should have,so people dont go selling it for personal gain.
12.) Beetle at January 10, 2008 around 9:01 pm
The scariest government policies come not from those who know nothing about an issue, nor those who know a lot, but by those who know just a little. Such as the author of the above article. Upon reviewing the official reasons cited during the 1937 congressional hearing (singular- it lasted half an hour) for outlawing cannabis, a different conclusion is easily reached. Cannabis was outlawed on the pretense of fabrications pertaining marijuana intoxication. The motivating factor behind debating evil cannabis highs at all was non intoxicating hemp. It is no secret that duPont and H. R. Hearst conspired to find a reason to eliminate hemp competition. Not to repeat information readily available online and elsewhere, but in short duPont had just patented technology to create plastics from crude oil & Hearst didn’t want hemp paper threatening his profits from timber made paper. Early Fords were manufactured from hemp oil plastics. Had marijuana- namely THC free hemp- never been outlawed, duPont and Hearst couldn’t have generated the profits they have and still do.
13.) your daily smoker at February 4, 2008 around 3:15 am
i am a daily marijuana user and havent seen any facts anywhere that would keep me from smoking. The only repercussion to smoking marijuana is the possibility of getting arrested or a citation. To me this seems absurd. Also if the government legalizes this plant, they could collect the taxes rather than the black market. This would keep money off the streets and would probably lower street crimes. No money no guns no murders.Also why would we have thc receptors in our brain if we werent supposed to smoke it. These receptors are triggered only by thc
There is nothing better after a long day than a good bong hit.
14.) bill at February 27, 2008 around 4:08 pm
screw the site
15.) hannah-lee at March 6, 2008 around 3:21 pm
dude. thankyou
16.) alex zevallos at April 3, 2008 around 11:17 pm
okay okay okayyy…. THEN WHY IS ALCOHAL LEGAL???? U GET MORE FUCKED UP ON ALCOHAL than marijuana.. alot of people dont like marijuana, therfore wont use it…. nice theory though… but better luck next time.
=]
17.) azap1750 at May 26, 2008 around 3:55 pm
i think they should legalize becouse there are way to many benifits and so few non-benifits (cant think of better word) that it doesnt make since to keep it illegal
18.) midnight toker at June 7, 2008 around 2:10 pm
Ok. So I use to smoke a lot. Sometimes I even got up to 5 blunts a day. While doing that I graduated high school with a 3.7 got a 32 on my A.C.T. and got a full ride scholarship to college. As far as my memory goes, I dont have a problem. I love the theater arts so i do a lot of plays. Usually i will get a lead role and have to memorize a ton of lines. There has not been a single time that my smoking has effected my ability to memorize lines or act. Now I will say this, the times that I got really stoned, those are the times that i cant remember very well. But is that so different than getting drunk? I personally am not a fan of alcohol thats my personal choice. I know that my judgement sucks when i’m drunk so thats why I dont. Personally, I think alcohol is more dangerous than weed. I mean I don’t know about you but ive never heard of someone getting high and go rampaging. Not only that but its not possible to even overdose on pot. Now, For a time I had a job that drug tested and I gave up smoking pot for 6 months and didn’t have a single problem quitting. I don’t know much about the legal issues behind marijuana, so i’m not going to pretend that I do. But what I do know is from personal experience. If you are responsible with weed and get your shit done before you blaze than you shouldn’t have any problems. With the memory, I haven’t experienced any problems with mine except for the times that I actually am high. Even when I was smoking 5 blunts a day i didnt have problems, maybe thats just me. I just think that a lot of the side effects that you hear about are not necessarily true. Well there’s my two cents
19.) daily toker at June 11, 2008 around 10:06 am
I agree with midnight on this, alcohol is obviously more dangerous than pot. The information in this article is weak at best. How many times do you look on the news and see, “another teen dies today in a car wreck induced by the presence of THC in his system.” Never, the fact is alcohol impairs your motor function way more then Pot. I would know. I have done both on a regular basis for a long time, and alcohol affects me and probably everyone else much more severely.
20.) Herb must be burned! at July 5, 2008 around 3:59 am
All those with weak arguments, no facts, and petty assumptions, Get the Real Facts! Read website below.
http://www.illuminati-news.com/marijuana-conspiracy.htm
21.) Andrew W. at July 15, 2008 around 3:44 pm
In response to “Grateful_NotDead”
Think before you speak…no where in “Lukifer’s” arguement did he say you drive better high because by better you unintelligently assume in comparison to being sober. The comparison he made is you in fact do drive better on pot than you would on alcohol. His arguement also states that while the two are not recommended since the mind has been altered…everyone’s efforts are being applied in the wrong areas of dangerous substances that pose a threat because of “legality”. It doesn’t make sense to ban one that’s less of a threat than the other.
Do you get it now “Grateful_NotDead”? Spoken like a true moron, think before you jump into typing rant of stupidity.
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