Razorguns said:
alcohol and cigarettes kill 100x more people than pot.
and guess what's illegal?
It has nothing to do with harm reduction... big tobacco lobbying dollars and pressure from anti-drug groups are the only things
It was made illegal in the first place for 2 reasons: 1 - Racism, 2 - Competition
1. In the early 1900's, Southern cities realized they had an easy way to keep Mexicans out - make weed illegal. Mexicans would then go on to the next city. Soon other cities realized this and pretty soon it was illegal in most places in the south. But places in the north still used it so...
2. Big businesss decided to give a fatal blow to hemp... In 1914, opium and coke were made illegal. Weed & Alcohol were not. In 1920, prohibition came about and over the years it was law, alcohol use rose sharply. In the mid 30's, several businessmen conspired to make hemp illegal. Dupont was coming out with nylon at the time and stood to lose billions if people became to make hemp clothing. There were 2 other millionnaires/billionnaires at the time that also stood to lose money if hemp stayed legal. They proceeded to demonize marijuana, blame it for deaths, etc. Propaganda films like "Reefer madness" helped further their cause.
THINK OF THESE OTHER FACTS:
- Legalized marijuana could COMPLETELY end deforestation and provides much more paper per acre than trees
- Henry Ford was going to make CAR BODIES out of ultra-compressed hemp, the govt nixed the idea
- Legal marijuana will surely lead to at least somewhat decreased cigarette smoking... something that will benefit even non-smokers as less cigarette smoking will mean less health problems nationwide... cheaper insurance, cheaper health care, etc.