I've been wondering, pondering, thinking over why marijuana and other drugs are illegal, while alcohol and tobacco are legal and obesity isn't hardly addressed by our nation.

Here is some information that I have found on marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and obesity.

marijuana

In 1982 the Surgeon General released the following warning

The Surgeon General of the Public Health Service has issued the following warning on marijuana:
marijuana use is a major public health problem in the United States. In the past 20 years, its' use has increased 30-fold; it is estimated that more than a quarter of the American population has used it. The age at which persons first use marijuana has decreased gradually to the junior high school years. Until recently, nearly 11% of high school seniors used it, and although that figure has declined to 7%, its daily use still exceeds that of alcohol; more high school seniors use marijuana than smoke cigarettes. In a recent study, 32% of those surveyed had used marijuana during the previous 30 days, while 25% had smoked tobacco.
On March 24, 1982, the Department of Health and Human Services submitted to Congress a report reviewing the consequences of marijuana use. marijuana and Health, 1982, ninth in a series, is primarily based on two recently conducted, comprehensive, scientific reviews by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Canadian Addiction Research Foundation, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Both independent reviews corroborate the Public Health Service's findings of health hazards associated with marijuana use: Acute intoxication with marijuana interferes with many aspects of mental functioning and has serious, acute effects on perception and skilled performance, such as driving and other complex tasks involving judgement or fine motor skills.
Among the known or suspected chronic effects of marijuana are:

1. short-term memory impairment and slowness of learning.
2. impaired lung function similar to that found in cigarette smokers. Indications are that more serious effects, such as cancer and other lung disease, follow extended use.
3. decreased sperm count and sperm motility.
4. interference with ovulation and pre-natal development.
5. impaired immune response.
6. possible adverse effects on heart function.
7. by-products of marijuana remaining in body fat for several weeks, with unknown consequences. The storage of these by-products increases the possiblilties for chronic, as well as residual, effects on performance, even after the acute reaction to the drug has worn off. Of special concern are the long-term developmental effects in

children and adolescents, who are particularly vulnerable to the drug's behavioral and psychological effects. The "amotivational syndrome," characterized by a pattern of energy loss, diminished school performance, harmed parental relationships, and other behavorial disruptions, has been associated with prolonged marijuana use by young persons. Although more research is required, recent national surveys report that 40% of heavy users experience some or all of those symptoms.
The Public Health Service concludes that marijuana has a broad range of psychological and biological effects, many of which are dangerous and harmful to health, and it supports the major conclusion of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.

source




Tobacco


Congress enacted the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-474), which required four specific health warnings on all cigarette packages and advertisements: • SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking by Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, and Low Birth Weight.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide
source

Smoking caused an estimated total of 263,600 deaths in males and 176,500 deaths in females (total 440,100) in the United States each year from 1995–1999

source page 6 of 42

Alcohol


It is estimated that doctors earned $40 million in 1928 by writing prescriptions for whiskey.

One of the great ironies of the prohibition era was the fact, noted by the Wickersham Commission, that women happily took to drink during the experimental decade, and, what is more, did so in public. As the counterpart of the WCTU, the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform was founded, stating in its declaration of principles that Prohibition was "wrong in principle" and "disastrous in consequences in the hypocrisy, the corruption, the tragic loss of life and the appalling increase of crime which has attended the abortive attempt to enforce it" (Dobyns, 1940: 107).
source

Immediate Health Risks

Excessive alcohol use has immediate effects that increase the risk of many harmful health conditions. These immediate effects are most often the result of binge drinking and include:

* Unintentional injuries, including traffic injuries, falls, drownings, burns and unintentional firearm injuries (7).

* Violence, including intimate partner violence and child maltreatment. About 35% of victims report that offenders are under the influence of alcohol (. Alcohol use is also associated with 2 out of 3 incidents of intimate partner violence (. Studies have also shown that alcohol is a leading factor in child maltreatment and neglect cases, and is the most frequent substance abused among these parents(9).

* Risky sexual behaviors, including unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners, and increased risk of sexual assault. These behaviors can result in unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases (10, 11).

* If pregnant, miscarriage, stillbirth, and a combination of physical and mental birth defects that last throughout life (12, 13).

* Alcohol poisoning, a medical emergency that results from high blood alcohol levels of alcohol that suppress the central nervous system and cause loss of consciousness, low blood pressure and body temperature, coma, respiratory depression and death (14).

Long-Term Health Risks

Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of chronic diseases, neurological impairments and social problems. These include but are not limited to

* Neurological problems including dementia, stroke and neuropathy(15,16).
* Cardiovascular problems including myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation and hypertension (17).
* Psychiatric problems including depression, suicidality and anxiety (1.
* Social problems including unemployment, lost productivity and family problems (19, 20).
* Cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, prostate and breast for women. In general, the risk of cancer increases with increasing amounts of alcohol.
* Liver diseases including:
o Alcoholic hepatitis is inflammation of the liver which can progress to cirrhosis.
o Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver that prevents this vital organ from functioning properly. This condition often leads to complete liver failure, and it is among the 15 leading causes of all death in the United States (21).
o Alcohol use by those with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause the infection to worsen. Alcohol may also interfere with the medications used to treat HCV (22).
* Other gastrointestinal problems including pancreatitis and gastritis (23, 24).
source

Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 20,687
Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 12,360
source


Obesity

Affects related to obesity
Emotional and Social Problems
Sleep Disorders
Effect on the Liver
Effects on the Lungs
Reproductive and Hormonal Problems
Eyes and Mouth Disorders
Muscles and Bones
Cancer
Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes
Cardiovascular Disease
source

obesity-related deaths: 112,000
source



From what I've figured out, we have approx 585,147 people dieing from tobacco, alcohol and obesity each year.

I haven't found any articles of people dieing from marijuana usage. I'm sure there may have been 15 in the last 40 years. Still, I find myself wondering, pondering, thinking over why marijuana and other drugs are illegal, while alcohol and tobacco are legal and obesity isn't hardly addressed by our nation.

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Would caffeine be illegal if you could smoke it?

i've been questioning this same thing for months now, and still cant figure it out. think about how many people die from alcohol and tobacco abuse, but how many are dead becuase of marijuana?...not many like you previously stated

haha i'm right there with ya man

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On Probation...Oh how I wish I could smoke!!!

marijuana is illegal cause it was misclassified as an opiate during the opium wars.

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"I know you smoke holding chronic when you rollin give a fuck about the cops pass the weeds till its dust..."

Reefer was rendered illegal right after the end of alcohol prohibition ...
Anslinger needed to keep his booze cops employed....I think this was around 1934 or so....more ramping up of the futile war on drugs....look at the great results......lol
Full Blown Stupidity

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If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
~ Frank Zappa ~

Liberty means responsibility, that is why most men dread it.
~George Bernard Shaw~

I would recomend watching Illigal Drugs And How They Got That Way. The history channel shows it every now and again.

i've got a good grasp on why the US has banned it. that's how we do stuff. but now that you bring it up, how did it become illegal worldwide?

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i'm the guy i've always wanted to be

im invisable...why doesnt one of you google it..your on the INTERNET..fun of fun,faq's and lots on info!!lol...losers

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"I know you smoke holding chronic when you rollin give a fuck about the cops pass the weeds till its dust..."

why are YOU here then? to keep starting shit? i'm not biting but if you need to be an ass try "CRAIGSLIST" find the "RANTS AND RAVES" section. you are on the net right? all i've seen of you is a lot of crap spewing out your mouth. your avatar pretty much says it all. i don't like you. you are now on my ignore list so i wouldn't waste my time replying. right back at ya there HEYMO.

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i'm the guy i've always wanted to be

*lol* heymo85,
you are right, I went and looked because most of what I thought I knew I remembered from The Emperor Wears No Clothes years ago....
So I ran it thru Google....holy cow...
1937 was marijuana stamp act......


1. Quadruple "Jeopardy" and the "Killer Weed"
When Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937, marijuana had already been included in the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act and every state had enacted some form of marijuana prohibition.1 In addition to its ostensible revenue-raising function, the Act was obviously designed both to deter further use of the drug 2 and to facilitate enforcement of the state laws.3 The statute assured the availability to state prosecutors of the order forms filed with the IRS at the time of payment of the tax. 4 Congress had thought that the order forms and registration requirements would develop an "adequate means of publicizing dealings in marihuana in order to tax and control the traffic effectively."5


Thus, after 1937, possession of marijuana without filing the transfer form and paying the federal tax constituted a violation of both state and federal law;- yet filing the form and paying the tax would probably not have eliminated the buyer's exposure to prosecution under state law. Indeed, compliance would probably have readily identified the buyer to state officials. To this unfairness the courts paid no heed, noting that exposure to state and federal prosecution for the same act did not constitute double jeopardy7 and that the fifth amendment did not protect defendants from prosecution for violation of state law.8
Marijuana Users in the Courts: 1930-1965

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If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
~ Frank Zappa ~

Liberty means responsibility, that is why most men dread it.
~George Bernard Shaw~

fdd, you may be correct about heymo.....his post did seem a little snotty, haven't read any other snotty ones from him so I'll reserve judgement.

__________________
If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
~ Frank Zappa ~

Liberty means responsibility, that is why most men dread it.
~George Bernard Shaw~