In the United States marijuana is considered a highly addictive illicit drug. If you are caught possessing such drug, depending on the quantity, you will be given a permanent record with a felony and possibly finding yourself a new roommate in a much smaller room. Marijuana is unlike other drugs because it is a naturally occurring plant that some people have illegally manipulated to carry higher levels of tetra hydrochloride (THC), which gives the user the ‘high’ feeling.

Marijuana hurts everyone around the user. Those under the influence may become very lazy and unlike their drunken buddies they may not want to be included in destructive behavior. It is also typical, because of the lack of motivation, that they do not want to drive; when a drunk person is driving usually they will speed and swerve between lanes without warning. Drivers, who are high, prefer to have high-speed endeavors at fifteen to twenty mph. This style of driving is much more dangerous because people may not be ready for the overly cautious driving.

Because marijuana is illegal, the underground trade network that has been established produces no money for the government like alcohol or tobacco. The only money the government gets is when it searches a possible drug dealer’s house. The best part for the government is the cost it takes to enforce laws about marijuana. This usually much greater than the money recovered could ever add up to. If marijuana was sold in stores like alcohol and tobacco, the government could establish a tax on it that could help repay some of the billions of debt our country has established, not to mention Law enforcement could also concentrate on crimes that don’t involve only one person like murders and rape.

Another reason marijuana is illegal is because unlike alcohol, which is legal, if you use too much, you won’t suffer from poisoning and you don’t run the risk of dying. When a marijuana addict uses too much pot, they suffer with severe hunger and become very lethargic. However, when a person consumes alcohol they tend to ride a rollercoaster of energy. The first few drinks a person ingests tend to relax them, the next round gets them a little more obnoxious by becoming louder and wanting to be more active. The drinker soon becomes uncontrollable, often become excessively rowdy, even being unable to walk and talk logically. Finally, if the person consumes even more alcohol they may pass out from alcohol poisoning, which left untreated can become blinding or fatal. Logically marijuana, ‘the harder drug ‘is illegal.

Tobacco, which is legal is generally not grown organically and contains lots of harmful chemicals. When smoked carbon monoxide is inhaled. Marijuana is usually organically grown but still contains a lot of the same chemicals that tobacco has. Tobacco has always been legal in the United States and has very high taxes on the products that help support government’s funding. Because marijuana is illegal, it complicates the process the government would have to go through to apply a considerably large tax on it. Because the trade of marijuana is done with any and all avoidance of Law enforcement, the government knows no one would claim and profits they may have made from selling illegal substances.

There would be no beneficial effects on the community like alcohol and tobacco bring. Not to mention all the extra paperwork the government would have to do and the cut down on the percent of the population that would remain incarcerated. For all these reasons it is extremely logical why marijuana remains illegal.