More people die from guns, food poisoning, extreme sports, sharks, toxic shock+side effects from legal prescription medications, medical malpractice, Red Bull, FDA screw ups, bad diet, etc etc etc etc etc, than weed.
In the wake of the clear as day fact that most of our everyday life legal and allowed substances are more harmful and a much greater threat than marijuana what are the valid reasons to continue the keep it illegal.
By the way....I am not counting moral reasons...if we wanted to talk morals then morally speaking 90% of all prescription drugs would need to be made illegal as well as Seafood, pork, adultery, etc.
Mark23 > true but if legal it would end up eliminating that violence just as end of prohibition ended the mafia bootlegging
injanier > excellant point!
Rank Jeff > Umm who said it should be subsidized by medicare? It would become same as cigerettes or booze...it would actually generate tax dollars not drain it. As for the violence no as stated the black market would disappear once it was legal. As for proving its good to justify legal that is backwards....free society legality requires a good reason to ban something..not to make it legal
The main rational concern I have seen is the difficulty of determining when one is under the influence, for driving and such. Other than that, there is a lot of ignorance and deliberate disinformation that would have to be overcome – the poster above who thinks people die from marijuana being a prime example.