Why is weed even illegal?

Well they tried to ban alcohol; and it made crime skyrocket.

Cigarettes are too big of a business to be rid of.

Weed is neither ran by a huge major organization, nor is there rebellion in the streets over the fact that it's illegal.


But on the topic, I've lived in California, and I live in Oregon where it is totally legal to smoke it and have had a lot of family members who use it, and are addicted to it. It is a highly addictive substance to many people; and people become reliant on it, and while under the influence of it they basically become useless blubbering shells of their former selves; who still drive around, and act even more-so like morons than usual.
It leaves an awful smell which can trigger asthma attacks just as well as normal cigarettes can and it still radiates your lungs, and causes long-term cancers just not at the same pace as normal cigarettes; as you are inhaling smoke which is a carcinogen.

There are a lot, and I mean a lot of positive rumors about weed as the primary users of it before it really kicked off into the main-stream were earth-hippy types who normally consider themselves to be 'health-gurus', we had one exact type of person squatting on our property when we got back to Oregon before weed was legal, and they were growing a ton of marijuana in the back of our land without permission and selling it to their contacts. They had an unusally large following online where they gave health advice and bad-talked our property and family, telling the neighbors that she was going to sue us for everything we own.
Not saying marijuana makes you into a sociopath hippy; but they're one of the large reasons for there being so many positive rumors about it without very much actual proven hard evidence supporting it from any major scientific fields.

I've had a couple friends who truly wanted to quit weed, and they just couldn't; one of them was taking it because they heard it reduces depression, and instead it made her depression even worse but she was unable to kick the habit.

Let's keep health benefits/hazards aside and talk about economic benefits to government. Weed is easy to grow, while cigs and booze require industrial processing. It leads to employment and tax. Yes, government makes money out of it. Weed just need a space and a willing person to grow. No way government can have any control over it. It may come in the way of cig and alcohol business if people find a cheaper way to substitute them. They don't care about your health, as long as their pockets are filled with your money.

P.S: I don't smoke any of it or drink alcohol.

Um weed also kills your lungs you're delusional if you think it doesn't. And it does smell!
And I don't want my kids to have access to it so yeah make it legal age restricted like cigarettes and alcohol.

I don't smoke it either and I think it should be legal.

All comes down to money, like everything the government does.