Why is weed even illegal?

[c=#7700B2][b]Alcohol:[/b] People can drink and drive and kill people and themselves, not to mention people die of alcohol poison every day.

[b]Cigarettes:[/b] Do you even [i]see[/i] what these things do to your lungs? Plus it makes all clothing and furniture smell [i]terrible[/i] if you smoke inside. Plus, let's not forget that it's the main cause of lung cancer which, need I remind you, KILLS people.

Then there's [b]weed:[/b] Known to reduce stress and anxiety levels, can kill cancer cells and can even help with seizures. I don't smoke weed myself and don't really plan on it unless a friend can convince me, but even I can see that weed isn't a bad thing compared to the other two I listed before.[/c]

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Teirdalin · 31-35

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.

SW-User

I used to smoke it every day, one day I just stopped..I never found it to be addictive, I think it's more the fact that I was struggling to eat properly or sleep before I started using it. My life improved a little and I didn't use as much as I just didn't need to. Like everything, it's ok in moderation.

Teirdalin · 31-35

You used it to treat a problem instead of just using it for the high it sounds like; which is a bit different than many people do.

SW-User

@Teirdalin: a lot of people use it to help them cope with problems. Ive been offered another of pretty useless drugs by doctors over the years and honestly weed has saved my life a few times over. I really wish it was legal here bc I'd just grow my own and not have to give my money to some dodgy dealer.