Why exactly is marijuana illegal?

Because it cuts the profits of 2 major corporate businesses that America is founded on... Cotton; by hemp and Tobacco; by the herbal smokage... there are a couple of other reasons people will toss around, but those are the two main reasons...

Originally, hemp was a very important cash crop (though not the way marijuana is today). It was a source of fiber that was used for rope, paper, and fabric. For many years hempseed oil was a primary oil used for lighting. In fact, one historian notes that prior to 1830, hemp was the most traded commodity in the world.

Strange as it may seem, the American cotton industry was one of the major players in getting marijuana/hemp outlawed. Through most of history cotton was a fiber only for the very wealthy, and even then most would not have been able to afford a garmet made completely of cotton. The development of the cotton gin in the late 1700s made cotton fiber much cheaper to produce. King Cotton came to power, but still had to compete with hemp. Then the development of the hemp decorticator in the 1930s brought the cost of harvesting hemp down dramatically, and it began to threaten King Cotton's superiority in the American marketplace. (Understandably so. Hemp is a superior fiber, is much easier to grow, and has a host of other benefits, even when grown without THC.) As a consequence, the American cotton industry was behind much of the propoganda and lobbying to outlaw marijuana, as a way to eleminate hemp.

Just as there were many odd and disparate factors that led to marijuana being initially outlawed in the US, there are many odd and disparate factors that keep it illegal, despite the incredible benefits industrial hemp could offer the American economy. It's said that one of the largest lobbies against legalizing marijuana is the large-scale pot growers. While this seems counter-intuitive, large-scale growers realize that if marijuana is legalized and readily available, the price will drop significantly and pot would no longer bring them the high prices it currently does. But perhaps the biggest factor keeping marijuana illegal is the amount of money and political power that is currently tied up in the soi-disant "war on drugs." Despite the government's own figures showing that the interdiction methods currently used are the most expensive and least effective, there is no indication that they plan to change their tactics. To do so would upset the huge apple-cart they've built.

This is only a limited glimpse of some of the factors that led to marijuana becoming and staying illegal. It's a fascinating study, and provides critical insight into how and why our government does things.

because anyone can grow it therefore the government can't get their cut in taxes so they outlaw it.

The federal government has a policy about admitting they were wrong, it's prohibited. They have wasted so much money on the war on drugs, killed so many people, destroyed so much more than the drugs ever would have without intervention from the government. That's alot to answer for.

FUCK THE GOVERNMENT...oviously making it illegal isnt stopping people from using it so why not make it legal...alchol is worse you can die from alchol its virtualy imposible to overdose mary jane

The dummies want to make life suck.
Please refute this.

Because the legal system sucks...
Some people think that it is dangerous i assume... but then again tobacco and booze are legal, so i don'#t know...

Weed is only illegal because it cuts in on the profits of the two aforementioned industries...there are prescription drugs that are more harmful, sometimes lethal. it is not physically addictive, and not so much mentally, only for the weak minded. it can get people into a better state of mind, especially when they are not normally.

Because it is addictive and it doesn't leave a person in the right state of mind.

Mainly beacause the government has no way to tax marijuana since people grow it themselves. They would most likely have to make marijuana only be able to be grown by big companies (illegal still for regular citizens to grow)

I may be wrong but, from what I understand, it used to be illegal to posess it, grow it, sell it and buy it. But not to smoke it. Figure that one out. This is just what I remember from reading a couple of old news articles printed in my state years ago. Times may have changed and laws may have been reworded.

I wouldn't do it myself but, personally, I think it's illegal because the alcohol industry doesn't like competition.

If it were legal, the profits would drop dramatically. We'd grow it next to tobacco plants in the south, and package it and sell it like cigarettes.

It's the drug traffickers and the "kingpins" who profit most by keeping it illegal. If I were a wealthy kingpin in the drug trade I'd bribe senators $$ millions to keep voting to keep it illegal.

If you want to make big profits on anything, just convince Congress that it's dangerous, and persuade them to make it illegal.

because uncle sam was denied sexually by mary jane.

Because the government can't tax it.

Because it is harmful to society, and there is no benefit that outweighs that harm.

Marijuana for medical purposes in California is Legal.

Medical marijuana: Medical patients and their designated primary caregivers may legally possess and cultivate, but not distribute or sell, marijuana under Health and Safety Code 11362.5 (Prop 215) if they have a physician's recommendation or approval.

In California it's legal with a doctor's recommendation. (Prop 215)You can buy it here in cannabis dispensaries.

It isn't conducive to a capitalistic society.

In historical purposes it started back in the 1930's.Hemp,the byproduct of marijuana was found useful for many things,for instance, to make clothing and to make a form of paper at much less cost,with need to cut down trees.At that time a William Randolf Hearst had owned vast stretches of woodlands,and had many pulp and paper mills,besides his newspapers.When he saw that hemp could easily overtake and cripple his pulp and paper industry he lobbied the government to make it illegal.Also Dupont was developing other processes with plastic and hemp would have interfered with his plans and profits.These 2 men had a lot to do with making the plant illegal ,and for personal gain,and not that there was anything wrong with smoking pot.

if marijuana is illegal cause the government can't get there Taxes and u can grow it ur self. Why are my oranges in my back yard not illegal?

Only a stoner would ask this question.

Because it's a drug. Well of course it is...

Money.

During the years 1916-1937, William Randolph Hearst created a yellow journalism campaign to associate hemp with marijuana. Even though smoking hemp, like most fibers, will just make you sick, Hearst, along with his friend Pierre Dupont, succeeded in outlawing hemp in America. They actually robbed the world of an environmental cash crop.

Source: http://supak.com/hemp/hemp.htm

Another excellent link: www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_culture11.shtml

They haven't figured out how to tax it.

It's too easy to grow, and really hard to tax it if you do. So making it ilegal is the obvious choice. Brewing beer, producing and growing refined tabacco(cigarretes) is to hard for the average american, so we rather buy it and therefore we are taxed on it big time.

go to youtube and watch, "penn and teller war on drugs is bullshit".

Because the alchohol companies would go broke if we could grow our own "good" time legally. Pain killer manufacturers would go broke. The CIA would quit making cash.

Uncle Sam makes a LOT of money of fighting the mean green. I mean, if the government were to legalize marijuana, they would lose a lot of money that's earned by the war on drugs. It's simple.

Who is the Nazi that gave me -5 for asking this question? Show your face! I wonder sometimes if it has anything to do with the government not wanting us to think outside the box. People see things from a different perspective under the influence of cannabis. The one main drug that is legal is alcohol. Alcohol doesn't help people think, and it causes more problems than most drugs combined. Perhaps the alcohol business fears loosing profits from people turning to grass if it were legalized. Maybe they are paying senators money to keep it illegal. I think George Washington even grew plants. I don't know if he smoked though. I like to think that he did.

as I understand it the full effects of marijuana have not yet been been agreed upon.

until medicine is certain of how it works they cannot legalize it...

even countries where it's "ok" to use the stuff is not actually legal, it's just tolerated.

It kills your brain cells and makes you stupid.

Big Tobacco is too powerful an industry. (lobby)

Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug on the basis that is has "a high potential for abuse." What does this mean?

It means that the perception is that people get on marijuana, they get hooked and become "potheads," and it begins to dominate their lives. This unquestionably happens in some cases. But it also happens in the case of alcohol--and alcohol is perfectly legal.

In order to fight this argument for prohibition, legalization advocates need to make the argument that marijuana is not as addictive as government sources claim.

I think its cause our government dont want to admit that they screwed up long ago by making it illegal. Either that or they are worried they wont be able to control it enough to make their money off of it.

First legislation in America was caused by racism, people were against Mexican immigrants and their new drug.

The Mormon missionaries brought it back to Utah after visiting Mexico. The church then pushed for it to be outlawed in the state.

After alcohol prohibition the bureaucracies created needed work. The drug (and the whole plant) Cannabis sativa L. was then demonized.

The Marihuana Tax Act was created to illegally prohibit cannabis, after its fall the CSA was created.

¤ Today we have the ONDCP, DEA and other entrepreneurial police forces that rely on marijuana's prohibition status for their funding and livelihood.

Cannabis growers and consumers have their assets forfeited and seized to fund The War on{Certain}Drugs.

It isn't everywhere but the argument is usually that it is bad for you. However there are a fair few things that are bad for you that are perfectly legal and an individual's health is their own concern. Providing the risks are publicised I think it should be legal.

There is a strong economic argument for legalisation as it could be taxed (which is why many smokers actually opppose legalisation ironically).

I firmly believe it causes less social problems than say alcohol.

Ronald Reagen.

For the same reasons that cigarettes are highly taxed and
Charlie Chaplin was put on the blacklist. People like to make a stink about things to further their career. They do this by inciting fear and pushing legislation to back them up. Then they can run for a higher office by saying something like "when I was deputy mayor of Ipswitch, I successfully rid the city of the scourge of annoying doorbell tunes" Legislation has a sticky nature and laws are much easier to make than to remove.

The sad truth is that marijuana was commonly associated with Mexican immigrants so it was not hard to get people worked up about it. People already didn't (and still don't) like Mexicans so it really wasn't hard to convince them that Marijuana was evil. Eventually it will be legalized, but only when it becomes ridiculous and universally evident that the laws are stupid. This is the way prohibition was repealed in the 20's. The answer is, if you want to change it, smoke it all the time, everywhere, get your friends to start, blow it in a cop's face, take your lumps but build awareness.

It was actually outlawed back in the 1930s as part of the goverments racist efforts to rid cities of black (Specifically in new orleans) and mexicans (in the sw). Since then the myth and propaganda has contuined to exist and be blown way out of proportion

Heres your answer ppl.

You'll see that the history of marijuana's criminalization is filled with:

Racism
Fear
Protection of Corporate Profits
Yellow Journalism
Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
Personal Career Advancement and Greed
These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.
Background

For most of human history, marijuana has been completely legal. It's not a recently discovered plant, nor is it a long-standing law. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. and it was legal as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy.

The marijuana (hemp) plant, of course, has an incredible number of uses. The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of hemp, and over the centuries the plant was used for food, incense, cloth, rope, and much more. This adds to some of the confusion over its introduction in the United States, as the plant was well known from the early 1600's, but did not reach public awareness as a recreational drug until the early 1900's.

America's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law "ordering" all farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other "must grow" laws over the next 200 years (you could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767), and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender (you could even pay your taxes with hemp -- try that today!) Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes (including essential war requirements - rope, etc.) that the government went out of its way to encourage growth.

The United States Census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp "plantations" (minimum 2,000-acre farm) growing cannabis hemp for cloth, canvas and even the cordage used for baling cotto

*GASPS* It's illegal!?!

$$$$ and Greed and Lies. There is no good reason why the government outlaws herb. ITS a PLANT! I think its the most ridiculous law existing today. With so much information available now that clearly shows the government outright lying to us in the past. Telling people that murder,insanity,and death are outcomes of smoking. Maybe if weed was legal too many people would become enlightened to the harsh reality of our government. Most all the potheads I know are really open minded, peaceful people,,not criminals. Perhaps its that they couldn't tax weed if it were legal. It would be near impossible to do so because its so easy to grow. They make more $ jailing and fining people.

Wow I did'nt know Weed was illegal
...just for that I'm a smoke all day
and try some mushrooms

I wonder if somebody just might have asked this question before.
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/492308
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/669718

cause the government totally sucks...hahaha

Its tolerance level varies around the world. The largest roadblock to legalization is law enforcement agencies. Entrepreneurial police agencies that are strictly funded through asset forfeiture rely on seizures to stay in business.

I believe that it is too profitable to make legal. Some people say cotton and tobacco would suffer significant losses financially. Some say the government isn't sure how to tax it because people can grow it themselves.

Now, the reason I say its already profitable "illegal" is because if someone gets caught with (1) baggie of marijuana say $10 worth, that baggie just made the government about $1,000 with all the charges. Now, spread that across your town or city. Then across your state. Then the whole U.S.. They make a shit load of money off of it being illegal.

This is just an example of being caught with (1) baggie. Imagine the fines drug dealers get that have multiple baggies or Ozs etc. This is just the beginning, there are also a shitload of extra excess charges such as: school zones, marijuana in a motor vehicle and many many more (avg fine is $500).

I think it should be made legal instead of when driving. Same laws as alcohol.

I'm not sure. Maybe because the government is retarded and doesn't think it can make money off of it. It can, from taxing it though. And maybe because the government thinks there will be more accidents. Or maybe because they know they won't make much money off of it because illegal drug dealers will always sell it cheaper. One day it will be legal.

Go rent the movie Grass... it tells you everything you need to know about why it is illegal and how we got to this point. It's VERY VERY imformative.

if it is legal, then people can tax it and we dont wanna pay tax on bud.