the reason marijuana is still illegal is that there are an enormous number of politicians who agree its a matter of time but continually vote/work against it being legal because they had to take that position to get elected. Unfortunately, when it comes to marijuana for the most part, our government representatives do not make decisions based on the people they represent but rather on the corporations that are going to give them the election money and in turn public support they need to get re-elected and continue having a career. Now, one may argue that if politicians must go against marijuana to gain much needed public support to get elected then clearly that is the will of the majority. To that there is no denying. but one must realize, the biggest reasons why there are still so many americans who want marijuana illegal are(in my opinion) the gateway theory, easier access for kids, and the notion that it is addictive. Those 3 arguments were pressed onto the american people by the reagan administration by providing very specific "evidence" (and I use that term very loosely because of the government studies that were intentionaly biased to support prohibition, such as the proof of the killing of brain cells.) in a specific way to make them reach illogical conclusions. The 3 arguments would and have been proven false by respected science institutions and in legitimate debate. Unfortunately still to this day americans accept those ideas as facts. There is so much propaganda on both sides of this argument, WAY WAY WAY moreso in the conservative view by the way, that the majority of americans do not know or understand the actual scientific facts of marijuana and continue to this day form their adamant opinions on this issue from false information. The argument of the legalization of cannabis has more false information being accepted as fact by the american people than any other issue our nation has faced in the past century. It is as if the government has thrown a viel over its people that was so effective that even now when the arguments have been proved false, people still hold the old views. It is truly amazing how easily the government was able to control the amercian people on this issue. This was the biggest misuse of governmental power against the people in our nations history. And the thing I find most amazing is that even though the information is right in front of them and even though the american people realize the information is there...they still believe and accept what the government pressed into them all those years ago.
Starfire cuddle cakes is completely right in the fact there are people with pre existing psychological conditions that make them prone to become addicted and move on to harder drugs. Thats actually something that I have been telling people for years and thats the first time ive heard someone else who has made that realization
Unfortunately and this is what I was referenceing earlier, people will use that information in a very specific way so that they could ,in theory, go before congress or better yet national television, and make a legitimate arguement of. "evidence of people who exhibited addictive states in response to exposure" By not at all providing information as to who those people were and what there psychological states were before the test, A person hearing that would be mislead to make the conclusion marijuana is addictive.
Therefore the notion of some people being more likely to become addicted than others should not be used as an argument to support the contiuation of prohibition because it does not reference the properties of the substance in question and any arguments on this issue must be SOLELY based on
the properties of the substance alone.
To put it in other words the psychological tendencies of an individual cannot be shown as a negative to marijuana because those individuals could have become addicted to anything and just because it happened to be marijuana does not set marijuana apart from any of the other potential addictive behaviors.
The argument that there will be an increase in car crashes because more people will be smoking marijuana once again should not be used to make the conclusion that marijuana must remain illegal.
Just look at drunk driving accidents. When a drunk driver gets behind of the wheel and kills another human being,it is the fault of the individual for not acting as a responsible adult the cause is not concluded to be due to the legal status of alcohol.