# Why is the Federal government against the personal use of Marijuana? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 23, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846 "2008-09-23T15:54:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/41 "2008-09-24T09:11:22Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > The DEA (:rolleyes:) states that it determines the harm of a specific substance before stating the legality of such substance. It would be nice if that were true, but in reality it’s based almost entirely on political reasons, and for newer drugs on publicity of abuse (like ecstasy) and parent fear mongering (what about the children!). The government has a long standing tradition of spending money on big studies done by smart people and then ignoring their findings (gays in the military, global warming, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/42 "2008-09-24T10:08:00Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > But then we bump into the whole “slippery slope” fallacy in which many people think that once marijuana is legalzied, cocaine, heroin and meth will follow. > > Oh well… > > At least we have the Netherlands. I am in favor of legalizing all substances. I’m unconcerned that thinking people will ruin their lives and suddenly start abusing drugs because they are legal. As for those who do choose that route, it’s their life, after all, to throw away. I see a net economic benefit over the long run. It’s very expensive to police drug laws and house “criminals.” Legalize it. I don’t see much point in trying to regulate recreational substances in any way, including taxing it. A whole violent underground economy would fade away if drugs are simply ignored by law enforcement the way private alcohol consumption is ignored. Criminalize drug-related behaviour only in the sense that alcohol is criminalized, say, by making DUI illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/43 "2008-09-24T15:26:43Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > I am in favor of legalizing all substances. > > I’m unconcerned that thinking people will ruin their lives and suddenly start abusing drugs because they are legal. > As for those who do choose that route, it’s their life, after all, to throw away. > > I see a net economic benefit over the long run. It’s very expensive to police drug laws and house “criminals.” Legalize it. I don’t see much point in trying to regulate recreational substances in any way, including taxing it. A whole violent underground economy would fade away if drugs are simply ignored by law enforcement the way private alcohol consumption is ignored. Criminalize drug-related behaviour only in the sense that alcohol is criminalized, say, by making DUI illegal. In logical terms you are right. There is no reason for which the government should ban using any substance for personal use, save one that can kill you immediatley, such as cynide, which is not really a “recreational” drug. I’m more in favor of a substance to substance aproach. I would legalize marijuana, ecstacy (which in its normal chemical state is not too harmful), LSD, Mushrooms. Cocaine and Heroin I would use as a medicinal. They already use bio morphine (just another name of Heroin) in England. Cocaine has been used in the past, by Sigmeud Freud in prescribed amounts as a energy and mood booster. I still find no way in which PCP, Crystal Meth or Ketamine could be legalized is such a way as to argue for legalization because all these drugs could kill you in small doses, or they could cause you to become aggressive and crazy. LSD can make you do stupid things, but the Drug itself is almost harmless for the body. Make sure you are in a good mood and have some anti-anxiety meds in case of an emergecy. But really, LSD is quite safe. As for other unkown to me substances, I don’t know what to do with them yet, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/44 "2008-09-24T16:04:39Z")
~250K admissions vs. 7 million? Really? I would bet we have more than 250k hospital admissions for pure stupidity annually, and as yet, being stupid isn’t a crime. “Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan is a great book that does discuss marijuana use but only because it is a great example of how humans desires have modified the plant world we live in, but mostly because it shows that darned near every single society has some sort of plant or plant derivative that causes an altered mental state be it marijuana, alcohol, heroin, wine, beer, peyote, etc. It is, what humans do. Heck, my daughter spins around until she is dizzy for fun. I have had migraines my entire life, I’ve spent one day a week in extreme pain for my entire life, and for the last week, I’ve had a low grade migraine that will not go away. I know that if I take one hit of marijuana a day, my migraines disappear. GONE. However, I do have a child and a home and frankly, I’d rather be borderline disabled than lose those things. And lose them for what? So I can use a drug that works wonders for me, when doctors refuse to give me anything that might work because I _might_ become a drug addict when my only desire for the past 40 years is to be able to live like a normal person without all the life modifications I do to try to lessen the migraines? Fuck that. Maybe I’m just fucking tired of my headache after so many days. Maybe I’m tired of being afraid of doing something to trigger one. Maybe I’m just fucking tired of everything. But mainly, my head hurts, I know how to stop it, but I can’t. I’m hurting right now because of the stupid laws about marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/45 "2008-09-24T16:18:40Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > You got a cite that supports that statement, or are you just playing into the “only the coasts are civilized” garbage that gets thrown around so much? It’s pretty much decriminalized and partly legalized on this coast. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/46 "2008-09-24T16:22:03Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The two theories I’ve seen about why it was made illegal were: > [ol] > [li] With the end of Prohibition, a federal bureaucracy needed a new illegal thing to keep working[/li][li]Williams Hearst had huge timber holdings, and needed to eliminate hemp, a competitive source of paper. [/li][/ol] > > I don’t drink or use any drugs - or drive. But I know I’d rather ride in a car driven by someone high on pot than a drunk. The Master speaks: > **[Is hemp (nonpharmacological marijuana) the answer to our environmental problems?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342268/is-hemp-nonpharmacological-marijuana-the-answer-to-our-environmental-problems)** \*Hemp wasn’t a mighty industry in the U.S. prior to passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Only about 1,300 acres of hemp–about two square miles–were under cultivation. It was cheaper to import the stuff than grow it. Even so, total U.S. consumption was only about 2,000 tons, and most of that was used for rope and such. Textile manufacturers had long since abandoned hemp for cotton, which was easier to process. An improved hemp-processing technology had been invented, and the industry might have rebounded had it not been for the antihemp crusade. But nobody knows for certain. The suppression of hemp wasn’t, as some have alleged, the result of an unholy conspiracy between federal narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger, the Du Pont corporation, and William Randolph Hearst. No question, Anslinger was a zealot who thought marijuana was a menace to society, and Hearst’s newspapers had done their best to whip up antihemp hysteria. But so had everybody else in the press. Lurid antimarijuana stories appeared in the New Yorker, for God’s sake. \* ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/47 "2008-09-24T16:25:19Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Because it’s still political suicide to say you’re for legalization and because the pharmaceutical companies can’t control the prouction of it. If it were legal, the **tobacco** companies could control production, or at least marketing. That is, they’re best situated to market a smokeable drug in smokeable form (e.g., pre-rolled joints). It would give them a fallback position if tobacco is ever banned. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/48 "2008-09-24T16:29:24Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > And why do so many of you have so little faith in capitalism’s ability to make money off of marijuana? I bet the pharma and tobacco companies have case studies in the vault on how to make money from legalization, should it occur. A million voters all saying they want Congress to legalize marijuana doesn’t carry as much weight as one multi-billion dollar corporation saying they want to pay Congress to legalize it. Until some company wants something like this to happen, it’s not gonna happen, and morality, health, addiction and sociological issues don’t mean diddly. They’d legalize arsenic as a food additive if somebody paid them a billion dollars. ---
**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/49 "2008-09-25T13:43:39Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > A million voters all saying they want Congress to legalize marijuana doesn’t carry as much weight as one multi-billion dollar corporation saying they want to pay Congress to legalize it. Until some company wants something like this to happen, it’s not gonna happen, and morality, health, addiction and sociological issues don’t mean diddly. They’d legalize arsenic as a food additive if somebody paid them a billion dollars. ..and this is why I hate my government. What ever happened to “By the People, for the People”? Did we not start a war over Taxation without Representation? Didn’t we WIN that war? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/50 "2008-09-25T14:19:30Z")
> [@dmatsch](#): > > ..and this is why I hate my government. What ever happened to “By the People, for the People”? Did we not start a war over Taxation without Representation? Didn’t we WIN that war? Eh, just relax and drink yer tea. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/51 "2008-09-25T15:44:54Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > A million voters all saying they want Congress to legalize marijuana doesn’t carry as much weight as one multi-billion dollar corporation saying they want to pay Congress to legalize it. Until some company wants something like this to happen, it’s not gonna happen, and morality, health, addiction and sociological issues don’t mean diddly. They’d legalize arsenic as a food additive if somebody paid them a billion dollars. Gosh so California _didn’t_ decriminalize and nigh legalize Marijuana, then. :dubious: (It wasn’t supported by any huge billion dollar corps, but it passed anyway) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/52 "2008-09-25T16:28:20Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Gosh so California _didn’t_ decriminalize and nigh legalize Marijuana, then. :dubious:(It wasn’t supported by any huge billion dollar corps, but it passed anyway) Are you really comparing national politics to state level politics? :dubious: National politics doesn’t have the benefit of a large population of progressively voting people or citizen sponsored bills like states do, and has some other hurdles as well such as an influential lobbying institution. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/53 "2008-09-25T16:47:38Z")
I’ll offer another reason why marijuana hasn’t been legalized: As a tangent to **Chief Pedant** ’s point, that we the people haven’t demanded it … marijana users don’t _want_ it to be legal. Bare with me here. Who do you think would be most vocal for legalization? Those who want to use it legally, right? But outside of a few NORML concerts, I guarantee you that your garden variety pot-head doesn’t _want_ to pop down to the 7-11 for a pack of Panama Red 100’s (which would probably run on the order of $20 a joint if I know our government). They like going down to Skeech’s house on the other side of the tracks to pick up a quarter ounce for $60. If pot were legal, you might get a few more … oh, let’s buy some and try it, tee-hee … but Joe Skullbong is quite happy with his dealer. Even if it were legalized, I bet the only store bought weed you’d find in most heads’ stashes is when Skeech’s phone is busy and _The Wall_ is on HBO. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846/54 "2008-09-26T12:22:09Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ll offer another reason why marijuana hasn’t been legalized: > > As a tangent to **Chief Pedant** ’s point, that we the people haven’t demanded it … marijana users don’t _want_ it to be legal. > > Bare with me here. Who do you think would be most vocal for legalization? Those who want to use it legally, right? But outside of a few NORML concerts, I guarantee you that your garden variety pot-head doesn’t _want_ to pop down to the 7-11 for a pack of Panama Red 100’s (which would probably run on the order of $20 a joint if I know our government). They like going down to Skeech’s house on the other side of the tracks to pick up a quarter ounce for $60. > > If pot were legal, you might get a few more … oh, let’s buy some and try it, tee-hee … but Joe Skullbong is quite happy with his dealer. Even if it were legalized, I bet the only store bought weed you’d find in most heads’ stashes is when Skeech’s phone is busy and _The ?Wall_ is on HBO. How bout if it were legal to grow like tomatoes? or hell, if it was just left to flourish throughout the country like the hardy weed it is? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-federal-government-against-the-personal-use-of-marijuana/464846.md?page=2)