Marijuana vs. Cigarettes: Why Is One Illegal and Other Isn't?

[gnomon]

I think hamburgers should be illegal. They give me some mean heart burn and it's contributing to my belly fat; hence my health.

I wonder which one would kill me faster if I smoked pot?

Engaging in the latter would increase consumption of the former.

 

[Father Heathen]

I think they should just legalize cannabis and apply the same regulations, licensing and taxation they do for alcohol. If the state is going to tell us what we can and cannot consume, why not extend that to everything perceived unhealthy and addictive? Why not crackdown on surgar, caffeine and fast food, too?

 

[dawny0826]

At 10 Mph

Frubals! That is so what I was thinking!

 

[Neo-Logic]

At 18 or 28 it is not the parent's job to tell his children what they may and may not do.

The parental role of advice and influence is timeless. It is their responsibility that is more innate than any laws with any age limits can stipulate.

 

[BucephalusBB]

Any parents want to respond to my next question:

As parents, do you really believe that legalizing marijuana, or any currently illegal drugs, for that matter, will somehow encourage your kids to start consuming them "just to try it out" per popular argument against legalization?

Granted it will have age limits - but is it not the job of a parent to ultimately help the child (whether 8 or 18 or 28) make the decision and build the character?

Ok, I am not a parent... But I'll still be answering your question..
I used marihuana in my youth because I was aloud to (Netherlands). So actually legalization encouraged me to try it. In fact, I was always dying to try XTC, but I didn't because it's illigal here, while I did do magic mushrooms wich are "legal" here. So for me, legalisation works

About my parents. They taught me all about drugs and it's dangers. Up till now they don't know a thing of what I did..

 

[BucephalusBB]

The parental role of advice and influence is timeless. It is their responsibility that is more innate than any laws with any age limits can stipulate.

It's the parents role to protect the children. It's the laws role to protect all the people.
Differnt roles, different rules..

 

[Yerda]

Ok, I am not a parent... But I'll still be answering your question..
I used marihuana in my youth because I was aloud to (Netherlands).

My brother wants to have a weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate his 21st birthday. Fancy meeting up for a J?

 

[BucephalusBB]

My brother wants to have a weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate his 21st birthday. Fancy meeting up for a J?

the Netherlands may be small, but I still live about an hour away from Amsterdam. If you go south though, you are welcome in my house

 

[Mister Emu]

*** Mod Post ***
Moved per thread creator's request​

 

[LittlePinky82]

Oh well that's easy of course! You can't sell pot since anyone can grow it in their back yard. It's hard to profit off of. Of course they can make it against the law to grow it in your back yard and still be able to buy it but I don't know if that would be hypocritical or not. But all in all it comes down to controlling the substance for money.

 

[LittlePinky82]

So do I. They are pandering to a loud and aggressive part of their constituency who has never tried it, and in the process helping perpetuate all kinds of irrational fear about MJ (and yes, probably making a few bucks off the tobacco industry). The whole drug policy in the US is a poorly-thought out mess from top to bottom.

Yep. The only thing pot makes you do is go hungry. So wouldn't that be good for business? Whether super market or restaurants?

 

[NoahideHiker]

Upon observation, Marijuana and Cigarettes seem to be categorically similar. Both are addictive. Both are mind altering substances. Both are potentially carcinogens. Yet ... only one of them is illegal while the other one is free for all to enjoy - provided you are 18 and over, of course. Comparing the two substances, would it be of surprise that the only one illegal causes the least number of deaths and the only one of the two to have actual benefits?

Cigarettes:

According to the center for disease control "more than 400,000 Americans die from cigarette smoking" and "one in every five deaths in the United States is smoking related"

That makes Cigarettes the number 3 leading killer only after Heart Disease & Cancer.

Marijuana:

There has not been a single recorded death from Marijuana usage in the medical journals or history. Source

Marijuana also has an added benefit of functioning as a pain reliever and has medical applications.

Argument: Either marijuana become legal or cigarettes illegal.

So why is it that one drug is legal while the other one is not? Forget morals, forget the myths, it's the money. Cigarettes is a multi-billion dollar enterprise and regularly contributes to political campaigns.

It seems like a double standard that cigarettes, which are more dangerous and harmful to the user than Marijuana with no medical benefits is legal, while the other one is not. This is not an argument of whether smoking a cigarette or even marijuana is moral, right, or wrong. It is simply a matter of one being legal and the other illegal.

Benefits of legalizing marijuana:

• Take money away from drug dealers and gangs who deal it in the black markets regardless of the law
• Marijuana could be taxed and money used to fund education/ recovery programs
• Control the quality of marijuana in the market

I think all drugs should be legal in my opinion for many of the same reasons you stated. OD death would go down. The price would be so low crime would be non existent. The spread of AIDS and HepB would slow to a trickle. Half the prisons would empty of non violent drug offenders and people who rape, molest and kill could serve their whole sentence. Drugs would be safer and regulated. Taxes could be raised to combat the negative effects of the drugs.

And #1:

People could decide for themselves.

 

[Scott C.]

Upon observation, Marijuana and Cigarettes seem to be categorically similar.

I think it's better to compare marijuana to alcohol, since both are mind/mood altering. As an LDS, I abstain from both. But, I don't have any reason to believe that marijuana is any worse or more dangerous than alcohol. Since I don't like either, I would vote to keep marijuana illegal.

 

[gnomon]

Alcohol is not legal.

It is regulated.

The state has reserved the power to say when one can legally consume it, restricted how one can brew, how, when and where it can be sold and even how, when and where it can be consumed.

The state can even mandate that it is illegal for you, as an individual, to consume it.

The whole debate over illicit drugs is not about legalization. This is not a semantics argument. The term legalization or "______ is legal" somewhat misses the main points of argument over the issue of controlled substances.

The active, psychotropic chemicals in cocaine and opium are technically less regulated, or "more legal", than those in cannabis. This in current opposition to society's opinions about the lethality and dangerous level of a drug compared to the reality of the situation.

It's about regulation.

 

[Father Heathen]

Since I don't like either, I would vote to keep marijuana illegal.

So I shouldn't be able to come home after a long day of hard work to sit down and kick back with an ice cold beer just because some other guy somewhere else doesn't like it?
If you feel strongly about a particular moral code then abide by it, I can respect that, but why do people feel that they need to impose their personal beliefs upon others to the point of ******* all over their liberty? That I can't respect.

 

[Neo-Logic]

Since I don't like either, I would vote to keep marijuana illegal.

That's the most selfish and narrow-minded statement I've heard in a while.

You are either young, not in America, or nieve.

Probably a combination of all three.

 

[BucephalusBB]

That's the most selfish and narrow-minded statement I've heard in a while.

You are either young, not in America, or nieve.

Probably a combination of all three.

You quite forgot to quote the sentence before this. He is saying that he thinks both marihuana and alcohol are dangerous and that he doesn't care for the stuff. My conclusion could also have been the same.

 

[NoahideHiker]

That's the most selfish and narrow-minded statement I've heard in a while.

You are either young, not in America, or nieve.

Probably a combination of all three.

Freedom means having to put up with some things you may not agree with. :yes:

 

[Scott C.]

So I shouldn't be able to come home after a long day of hard work to sit down and kick back with an ice cold beer just because some other guy somewhere else doesn't like it?
If you feel strongly about a particular moral code then abide by it, I can respect that, but why do people feel that they need to impose their personal beliefs upon others to the point of ******* all over their liberty? That I can't respect.

I said I wouldn't legalize marijuana. I would not make beer illegal, however. Prohibition didn't work.

 

[Scott C.]

That's the most selfish and narrow-minded statement I've heard in a while.

You are either young, not in America, or nieve.

Probably a combination of all three.

If it's been a while since you heard someone say that marijuana should be illegal, you don't get out much.

By the way, I'm 49, a father of 6, grandfather of 3, and an American. I have a brother who died from an overdose. I have a nephew in prison for issues relating to addiction. I have a son who went through a drug period as a teenager and recovered. I've been around, thanks.