we LIKE disposable clothing.

Pot is illegal because ANYONE can grow it ANYWHERE and by doing so: deprives:

- Governing agencies of tax revenues
- Large corporate entities from HUGE profits on Xanax, Camels and Zima
- Prison Guard unions from guaranteed jobs at full prisons

i know there's more but i got a little baked a while ago and can't remember....

Anyone who tells you its a safety issue is blowing smoke up your ass.

SMOEK POT!

InfectionConnection: Exactly. Which is why government regulation is usually entirely evil. Whenever the government assumes the power to prohibit, the special interests creep in and make it their business to use the government's power to suit themselves.

People talk like big business is Anti-Regulation. This couldn't be farther from the truth. They are for regulations, as long as they are the ones benefitting.

If Marijuana was legal, it might take business away from tobacco and booze manufacturers... You can bet that Philip Morris' lobbyists would be heavily against any bill that would legalize it.

SMOEK PAUL!

so if it was legal.... corporations wouldn't build empires out of it?

I just don't see how Philip Morris wouldn't use a field or two to cater to the cannabis crowd.

And I'm no green thumb, but why couldn't you grow your own tobacco? I don't see the reasoning that because I could grow the plant it should be illegal. Maybe by growing my own pot, i won't get taxed directly, but I would still be taxed on the utilities and property used to grow it.

Good point, but the big picture is more scarier: they don't want you to be 'high'er than they are.

I suppose you COULD grow tobacco if you wanted. I dont know much about tobacco, but i think to maintain a usable supply (e.g. a pack a day), you'd have to grow quite a bit. More than you could grow on your patio.

I can grow 2 or 3 pot plants a year (legally, with 'the note') and that would be plenty for the year.

Folks DO build empires out of it. In fact, its a lot easier to build an empire out of BECAUSE of its illegality (and the extra illegality of cultivation) - b/c of artificially inflated prices. Phil Morris would absolutely jump on it (I see your point), but since its been shown not to be physically addictive, its not really ever going to be their main product, and they couldn't export it unless the rest of the world jumped on the bandwagon.



My point was that its illegality is purely a function of economics - tho i feel the clothing industry has little to do with it.

I've always thought that economics has a smaller factor it the legalization of marijuana than what seems to be popular opinion.

The reality as I know it, is that marijuana is a mind altering drug just like alcohol. That is commonly believed to lead to the use of increasing dangerous drugs, just like alcohol. However, when prohibition took place, a bunch of enraged alcoholics rebelled, where as the pot heads were too laid back to do anything.