Should Marijuana be legalized?

1. It's not addictive

2. It's not a gateway drug (there is no concrete evidence, only correlations which can easily explained with other arguments)

3. It's safer than cigarettes (It doesn't cause cancer, studies show that people who have smoked several joints a day for years have no statistically significantly higher risk of getting cancer)

4. It's safer than alcohol (You can't get killed from it, no matter how much you smoke, and if you're really high, you're less likely to do something stupid than if you're really drunk)

I guess we should be asking the question," Why is Marijuan an illegal drug in the first place?"
It's illegal for a reason.
And the whole 'medical-benefits' debate is extremely weak in nature.
I mean seriously.. all those in favor of it's legalization.. probably.. are currently illegally sampling the stuff.
LOL

"The war on drugs has huge costs to society--much greater costs than the damage that marijuana has done."
What's your reasoning for this? Who's to say the decriminalization of Marijuana won't result in more DUI's (increased jail and court time) or more accidents due to more people being under the influence because it's legal? There is no warrant in your argument as to why the costs would be less on society, I can only imagine how it would be much greater.

You're talking as if criminalizing marijuana is free.
No way. The war on drugs has huge costs to society--much greater costs than the damage that marijuana has done.

It makes perfect sense to compare to alcohol because a smart society compares all opportunity costs. In the end, it makes no sense, morally, medically, and economically, to criminalize marijuana when society has much bigger fish to fry.

So am I to understand that your reasoning is that because Marijuana is less detrimental to society in comparison to alcohol that we should legalize the substance?

I don't think that makes for a great argument honestly. Alcohol slipped through our fingers, it should be outlawed as well. Instituting marijuana in my honest opinion does far more harm then it does good. Just because, based on your reasoning, it is less harmful in comparison doesn't mean we should legalize it. Obviously doubling our fatality rates is a clear winner here. Oops sorry, it's less detrimental so, really, we're only maybe multiplying the death rate at 1.57 (arbitrary). Clearly logical.

Many people use the argument that because a, b, c are bad but they are legal, let's make d (marijuana) legal just because it's marginally less <effect_here> which is also bad. What are you guys thinking?

Marijiuana is much safer than alcohol and less addictive.
Alcohol kills people through consumption and through drunk driving.

Marijuana is way safer.

Absolutely should be legal to make the system make sense.

Not sure what the debate is, the only down side of Marijuana is the smoke going into your lungs. When it comes to addiction, coffee, alcohol, tabacco, food even are way more addictive than Marijuana.

If you are going to keep Marijuna illegal, then add alcohol and tabacco.

Although it is widely believed that Marijuana should be legalized due to its widespread use, I believe that it should remain illegal. Marijuana in itself is an addicting narcotic, which affects both the physical and mental state of the user. Although it is argued that it's effects are on the same level as alcohol, the problem with Marijuana is that it actually seeps itself into ones system as it is used, causing long term damage and mental instability (http://www.drugwatch.org/Cannabis%20Illegal.htm).

It is ridiculous for people to argue that such a drug should become legalized because it is already being used by a large amount of people. If it were legalized its use would become even more widespread (saying people do it because of its taboo nature does not work here because people would start to do it because it was no longer taboo and would interested in it because it was at some point) and its effects would begin to legally haunt society.