why is alcohol legal?

[LIP]

Ahhh, that may be so in America, but here in England we dont get to vote over changes in the law, so it's nothing to do with all the bad press.

[CityBoyGoneCountry]

But you get to vote for the lawmakers, don't you? You're not living in a dictatorship.

[orangeman]

Because it's easier to control by the government than Cannabis is and since there are so many alcohol companies now which everyone buys from that no one is worried about people making or selling their own because they are gonna make little to nothing money.

[socialinjustice]

its not so much about the big corporations making money as it is the government losing money. alcohol and cigarettes are easy to regulate and tax. its hard to grow your own good tobacco and make your own good alcohol, while with pot, anyone can grow it, therefore making it nearly impossible for the government to regulate and tax. fact.

[CityBoyGoneCountry]

It's real fuckin easy to grow your own tomatoes, too. But how many people actually do it? Tomatoes are big business, and grocery stores sell them by the fuckin truckloads.

People in today's world want everything to be fast and convenient. They see no reason to grow their own tomatoes when they can just go to the store and buy some. It will be the same way with MJ.

MJ will become something that gardeners grow as a hobby, but corporations will grow it as a billion dollar business.

[socialinjustice]

my parents grow tomatoes. so do my neighbors. so i dunno what youre talking about, theres tons of people that grow their own tomatoes. and like i said, its a taxing issue, the gov. isnt gonna legalize it until they can find a way to tax it. if you could grow a 6 foot plant and yield enough to last you half a year, would you buy MJ if you legally could? or would you plant a free plant, gorw it for 6 months, then smoke it for six months wile your next plant grows for free? its a tax issue, thats all. making mary jane legal is a state issue, not a federal one. the gov. gives states money and big insentives to keep MJ illegal.

[CityBoyGoneCountry]

my parents grow tomatoes. so do my neighbors. so i dunno what youre talking about, theres tons of people that grow their own tomatoes.

There are people who grow tomatoes as a hobby, yes. But you will be hard pressed to find people who actually grow all of their own tomatoes.

In order to grow enough tomatoes to feed your family for an entire year you will need to have room to do it, time to do it, and a very strong desire to do it, because it's a lot of work growing and harvesting that many tomatoes.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, then just go to your local grocery store. You will see tomatoes for sale. Those tomatoes were grown commercially and they are taxed. Your parent's backyard garden isn't even putting a slight dent in the commercial tomato empire.

Oh, and by the way, your parents buy their tomato seeds and/or seedlings from a nursery, don't they? Those are big businesses too, and they are taxed.

Welcome to the wonderful world of capitalism and social economics!

[RedLocks]

jusdt found some statistics for the year 2000

Tobacco (435,000 deaths; 18.1% of total US deaths

Alcohol consumption (85,000 deaths; 3.5%)

(Note: 16,653 deaths from alcohol-related vehicle crashes are included in both Alcohol consumption above and Motor vehicle crashes below.)

and then amazingly... Illicit use of drugs (17,000)

The government sure makes a "killing" on the alcohol and tobacco taxes, just like people made a killing with organized crime during prohibition, but still bet less people were killed with a tommy gun than the number of people who die a year from the simple consumption of a poisonous liquid.

Think about this.. say there was a rubber bouncy ball, every time ya play with it, it tears apart some random organ in your body (same one every time) and there is a 1/10 (fictional fraction) chance you will die when ya play with the ball, and alot of people can't stop playing with the damn bouncy ball even though it is hurting them and making people drop like flies, dun ya think that stupid bouncy ball would be outlawed? lol

[darkside]

i dont think any good would come from criminalizing alcohol, just a spike in the prison population.(sound familiar?) also i dont think they should legalize weed,but i think they should completely decriminalise it. if they legalized and taxed it, big corporations would take over production and put poisonous and addictive additives in the weed and it would end up bad for you and shitty tasting like modern cigarettes are.

[mfqr]

Oh they know, but they cant legalize it now, cos it'd make them look like morons for illegalizing it in the first place. It's all to save face.

That's true. But I also think drug companies would lose money, since it would knock out some drugs they sell. It's fuckin' sad, drug companies are ALL about the money, and don't give a fuck about the patients. Many perscription drugs are horrible for you, and it's amazing that the FDA passes them (corruption). I hate the US government, they're fucking lamers.

Legalizing it would make it a HUGE commercial industry, and you would probably be able to go to a gas station and pick up a sack. It would also probably be just like how cigars and tobacco is marketed. You'd have the cheap, shitty weed sold by Wal-Mart, and then there would be some other companies that sell more expensive good bud. But I guarantee that if it was legalized that you would be able to buy it from gas stations, and Wal-Mart! Soon enough you might see commercials too, lol. Think of how weird that would be--seeing a "pick up your favorite bud at your local 7/11" commercial. I'd rather have it decriminalized.

Oh, and by legalizing it or decriminalizing it... studies show that the use of it would probably not increase too much.