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Indeed. Good points.
Let's compare the legalities of marijuana and tobacco.
Tobacco:
- Legal for persons 18 and over (in California)
- Kills millions of people every year.
- Contains one of the most physically addictive substances known to man, which just so happens to also be a carcinogen.
- Is also mentally addictive due to its small high.
- Brings in tax dollars and even more money for schools, etc.
- Has a small high that is often fully tolerated after frequent use.
Marijuana:
- Illegal.
- I don't know the statistics of marijuana and death, but I'm sure that if it even kills people at all, it kills less people than cigarrettes do.
- Is not physically addictive.
- Can be mentally addictive due to the amazing feeling you get from use.
- Tax dollars are spent to rid us of this rather than made by producing it.
- Has an incredible high, but doesn't impair nearly as many motor skills that alcohol does. Occasional users usually have no tolerance for marijuana, as the effects are fast and you don't have to use a lot of it to get relaxed. Tolerance can be built, but you have to smoke every day to build it.
So cigarrettes are worse for us than marijuana, they kill more people than marijuana, they hardly produce any high at all (unlike marijuana), and they're physically addictive (unlike marijuana), yet they're legal (unlike marijuana). What's up with that? And before you say, "We don't want everyone walking around high all day long," remember that alcohol is legal. You can legally get drunk all day long (in the comfort of your own home), yet who actually does that other than alcoholics and people trying to kill themselves?
If we can keep alcohol restricted, yet legal, we can do the same thing with marijuana. No, I don't think you should be able to go into work high, just as it's not cool to go into work drunk. I don't see ANY reason to make it illegal, though, while tobacco and alcohol, two substances that are substantially worse than marijuana on many scales, are perfectly legal.
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