Thoughts on marijuana prohibition?

[berwin]

Can anybody tell me how prohibition of marijuana was in any way, shape, or form a success?
I do not understand how people honestly think by LEGALIZING marijuana, it will make more kids smoke. Wrong. Think about it, if marijuana is legalized what happens to the people smuggling in weed over the borders of Mexico and Canada? Or even the dealers here that have massive grow operations and sell it? The drug cartels are the people who want these laws in place because without them, people looking to buy marijuana won’t have to do it illegally, thus stopping a black market for marijuana. And not only that, kids have a much harder time buying cigarettes or alcohol then weed, why? Drug dealers don’t care how old you are, if you have money, you’re good to go. That doesn’t work in a liquor store or smoke shop, you need identification! Ever notice that there aren’t shady guys asking kids if they want to buy cigarettes or alcohol? (or at least not nearly as much as illicit substances.) Once the prohibition of alcohol was over, the smuggling stopped and all the Al Capone’s of that time either vanished or got jailed. Simple thing, happens to work.
And on another note, the U.S. prisons have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and a good portion of those people behind bars were put in for simple possession! Now honestly how are you going to put people in jail for possession for a small amount of marijuana when they aren't harming anyone else, not to mention the fact that there are no recorded deaths from direct use of marijuana. Do you know the billions of dollars the government spends every year to bust people and pay for court appearances, and all that good stuff? Billions of dollars every year! Like can anyone honestly say that these laws should stay in place?

[joachim]

You're singing to the choir here. How about sending an email to your congressperson?

[garwyli91]

Liberal hero FDR made marijuana a Federal crime with his Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.

[dana]

It is still illegal for recreational use because the alcohol companies fund Drug Free America because they don't want to compete with marijuana. They know it is harmless but if they get the scare into people, they will not approve of marijuana.
Marijuana was first made illegal because of hemp. Hemp was going to be used for many items once machines were able to effectively produce hemp. Hemp could have been used for oil, fuel, housing, and what caused rumors to spread is that it was also going to replace paper. William Randolph Hearst owned news papers and paper mills and it would cost him millions of dollars to have it handed over to him. So he saved money by scaring people saying that a new drug ,which was marijuana, was causing Mexicans and blacks to rape white women. The rumors spread until it became illegal.