Cigarette smoking causes many types of cancer, including cancers of the lung, esophagus, voice box, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia. And they are legal.

The most marijuana does is a little memory loss. Not unlike Alcohol which is also legal; except unlike alcohol - weed won't kill your kidney.

"The CBDs in mj actually counter some of the less desirable side-effects of THC, like anxiety, paranoia, rapid heartbeat and short-term memory loss." And my fault marijuana for the most part is not addicting but it could be psychologically additing to a few people.

People are so uneducated about marijuana it's infuriating. My mom has chronic backpain and she refuses to take prescribed painkillers because she finds them addictive and they make her drowsy - so she can't work while taking them. And that's not the worst part; some of the side-affects of the painkillers suggested to her were: thoughts of suicide and depression.

Not only are those fucking legal, but they were reccomended by doctors. Marijuana would help her so much: non-drowsy, makes you happier and would relieve her back pain. But she can't use it because it's illegal in our state. I guess she'll have to settle for the addictive, depression inducing medication instead or hope the pain doesn't get too bad.

crime rate will drop

if you want to know how marijuana got prohibited just watch reefer madness. and then look up why the whole movie was being made (someone would have gotten unemployed if not).

there are so many reasons.

btw the prohibition of marijuana is in fact a big fat act of racism.

I think it should be illegal (and I have arguments for both sides: legal/illegal) because of the harm it causes to kids under the age of 21. It can have major impacts to your health under 18-21 years old. It's much easier for kids to get alcohol over marijuana. Yes, it's quite simple to acquire both of them at a young age, but most parents keep alcohol stored in a cabinet, or the fridge and they do nothing to keep their kids away from it. First of all, I'm 16 and I have tried alcohol. I've never tried marijuana. My parents don't smoke it, I think, and if they do they keep it hidden away. I shouldn't have tried alcohol but it's so tempting just sitting there. It is a problem with parents first and foremost, but we're not going to fix that anytime soon. I've heard kids at school say "I'll give my kids weed when they're 15" which brings me to my second point. Stupidity. It can seriously, "scientifically", make you less intelligent if you're under 18. It's also a driving issue. You should NEVER drive under the influence of anything, or ever smoke weed in public. Personally, if you do either of those things, I think you're kind of an asshole. But people do it and they can be harming others and/or polluting the air with something other people choose not to do. Marijuana is also addictive (just like everything else, but a drug like this can seriously be bad for your health, because just a little too much can be going overboard at times)

There are still many reasons why it should be legal as well. Yes, technically you aren't hurting anyone. As long as you're not driving or operating machinery (But people will do that anyway). And it's not technically harmful to the individual in any seriously major ways. I could say "it's healthier than alcohol" but the only reason alcohol is still legal is because of all the crime it caused when prohibition happened. This is NOT the same thing happening with marijuana. Prohibition was much more violent and a much larger population joined in on it. The market for marijuana is quite largely populated by "teenagers being edgy", who could eventually grow out of this phase. On a personal level, the 'edgy' teens that do it in my school, are generally not the ones who do well on, anything really. I'm generally concerned, to be honest, it's really all they talk about, and it seems to have "consumed" their lives. They have less of a personality. I don't see many of them going far in life, unless they're selling weed (which most already do), which is really my biggest convincer that weed should be legal. Most people who sell it do NOT want it to be legal. They would make NO money. I know it sounds harsh to wish that upon someone, but I do really believe that if you want to smoke marijuana, you should be responsible. The dealers are not responsible at all, because they make very, very, large amounts of money doing almost nothing... which is kind of a problem in my eyes, it sort of makes you delusional about the "real world".

You should still form your own opinion, nobody here should "convince" you. That is, if you even really care. Sometimes it's best just to avoid stuff like this all together. Smoking weed has positive benefits, and negative benefits. Just like every thing in the universe. It's not some miracle, it's not magic, it's not the second coming of jesus christ, it's a drug.

http://www.alternet.org/story/60959/the_top_ten_reasons_marijuana_should_be_legal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis
http://www.trueactivist.com/still-believe-nature-got-it-wrong-top-10-health-benefits-of-marijuana/
http://www.benefitsofmarijuana.com/benefits.php

You appear to have a lot of misinformation about marijuana. The benefits from the plant are endless and relentlessly surpressed. It takes a lot of research to understand the full picture behind the illegal status of the drug. The Union might be a could documentary to watch if you are truly interested in the subject.

Those edgy teens you're talking about also drink alcohol - a drug that can kill you and I'm wlling to bet some smoke tobacco - a drug that will kill you. Weed won't. Those slackers you know are stupid because they're stupid- not because of the drug. I know several potheads from high school who graduated with a 4.5 GPA or above. I recently met an actual marijuana addict (I didn't believe people like him existed), but he entered college with a 2100 SAT score. You'll notice that a lot of slackers and iddiots smoke weed, but it's not because the drug makes them into slackers or idiots. It's that slackers and idiots are more likely to smoke weed, drink, and use other drugs because its what they do. If they stopped smoking weed - theyd still be just as dumb and just as unproductive.

And also who gives a fuck about dealers. I couldn't care less if they didn't want weed to be legalized. 

Oops. Double post. 

1)  "there is no real benefit to it all"  -   This can be said more about prohibition than it can for legalization.   There is no benefit to prohibition.  People are still eating it, smoking it, selling it, growing it, while billions are being wasted.   Not just wasting money, but police resources that could be spent finding abducted woman, or solving cold-cases.   can you tell me one real benefit to prohibition?

2) "All it does is make you a lazy unproductive member of society."   Completely untrue,  While some users waste there lives doing nothing but smoking pot, These people would be wasting there lives doing nothing anyways even if pot wasnt around.   Marijuana is used by a wide array of productive members of society, from scientists, to engineers, so service workers.     The High from marijuana also doesnt necesarrily make someone lazy,  That is heavily dependant upon the strain, Ive had some that make me wanna get moving and have fun.  Great weed for skiing.   Ive also had strains that make me almost fall asleep before im done smoking.  And everything in between.

3)"What good does that do to be high all the time and do nothing in life,but live for that high"   Just because it is legal doesnt mean people are going to be high all the time.  Many other legal substances are used responsibly and unresponsibly by sects from almost every walk of life.

4) " Anybody that wants to use it for medical purposes is just using that as an excuse to get high"   - This is complete and utter bull shit. Myself and many others suffer from daily symptoms that normal pharmaceuticals cant help, or so many side effects there is no point in taking them.  Not only that, they have been shown to work when a wide array of other medications dont.   From reduction in nausea and increasing appetite, pain reduction, seizure prevention, anxiety reduction, sleep inducing .. i could go on..    PLUS alot of medical patients do not use it for the THC, which is the main active compound that gets you high.  They want it for the CBD's and actually dont want the high.

5) "according to my reading,the drug produces anxiety,fear,distrust and panic."   I used to see symptoms like this all the time,  in grade 8.  Thats mostly in new users.  Some users do report feeling like, so they have a simple solution,  Its just not for them like booze isnt for some other people.

6)" It also affects your posture,coordination and reaction time."    posture? weed doesnt effect that.   coordination and reaction time?   My COD k/d ratio begs to differ.  I dominate many friends who dont smoke, and i refuse to play if i havent blazed just before.

7) "It can also cause dellusions and hallucinations"   This has been in debate within the medical community.  A few years ago it was believed that if you have a genetic pre-disposition to psychosis, marijuana may trigger it.  But newer research within the last year says that this may be incorrect.  It does need to be studied more, but that doesnt happen under prohibition.

8)" it can also increase heart rate and cause sleep impairment."    Lots of things can raise heart rate, many of which are legal.   Interesting though is i smoke more weed than any one i know and i have low heart rate and blood pressure.   and sleep impairement?  i know a heck of alot of people that use it to help sleep.

9)"How does all that give you these magical medical benefits."   As mentioned in the last 5 posts, your assumptions are all wrong, the benefits arent magical at all but routed in science.  I think you need to watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special on medical marijuana and how he dove into researching the topic a few years ago and completly changed his mind and apolagized for his earlier stance.(he is Pro-medical marijuana now, used to call it nonsense)

10) You come back to saying you dont see a point in legalization.  What is the point in prohibition?  what is it actually doing?   Is it really stopping people from using it?  is it stopping gangsters from making billions?   nope.  Infact millions use it, and its making gangsters even more rich.  and its driven some to find "legal" alternitive highs that are VASTLY more dangerous, both to themselves and others around them.