How can people believe marijuana is harmless when hundreds of cops are killed each year?

So, thanks to your post anyone that did not know that the members of drug cartels are violent criminals have been clued in. Good Job!

During prohibition (when it was illegal to make, transport, sell, or drink intoxicating liquor in the USA), there were organizations very similar to the Mexican drug cartels. Small organizations (family owned and operated distilleries) to large organizations (multi-state transportation and distribution networks for liquor smuggled into the USA from froeign countries). Treasury agent (revenuers), FBI, State and local police all lost personnel to the war on alcohol. These deaths were added to the deaths caused by poisonous product that was distributed (no regulation of the trade), and deaths caused by overindulgence.

Today, the death toll from alcohol has been severly reduced. We no longer lose treasury agents or police officers to violent transporters or distributors. Deaths due to extremely poisonous alcohol on the market are pretty much unheard of (thanks to regulation of the market). So the death toll from alcohol has been reduced to primarily those that overindulge in alcohol and people injured due to negligent use of machinery (like automobiles) after an operator has indulged in the product.

Alcohol is the same compound it was back then ... but the manufacturing, distribution and transportation is now regulated to reduce the risk to the users and other citizens. Why couldn't this same procedure work for marijuana?

Exactly. If marijuana were decriminalized or legalized, then the violent crime associated with it would go away. If it was sold by legitimate businesses and taxed by the government, then there would be no black market for it. Marijuana's only harms come from its illegality. Not only would many lives be saved from marijuana's legalization, a lot of money would be saved, and generated as well.

Cigarettes harm many people because of the health risks, yet they are controlled by the government, so they don't have to be "smuggled" and no additional people have to get hurt from its sales. Alcohol clearly harms people, directly and indirectly, but again, its legal sales prevents people from getting hurt as a result of selling the product. Marijuana's health risks are negligible compared to other legal drugs, so why not make it legal and then nobody will be getting hurt from its sale and consumption?

The Drug War is responsible for the deaths of those officers, not marijuana. You could say that alcohol killed the police officers during original Prohibition but that'd be inaccurate.

Legalizing marijuana would place control of the marijuana market in the hands of the government, not in the hands of organized crime. In fact, legalizing marijuana would cripple many criminal organizations financially.

As far as the gateway drug theory goes: When is the last time your neighborhood liquor store offered you cocaine? Exactly.

Please try to be more reasonable in the future when trying to act intelligent.

It's true that law enforcers get killed while kicking in people's door to seize all their property, their homes, family and children and all their money and everything they own and take them to prison.

The constitution says that no person should be accused of a crime unless there's a victim. So if I fire up a joint in the privacy of my own home and I promise not to kill any cops or buy from any cop killers, tell me sir....Who's the victim in my crime when the state comes and takes everything I own from me to lock me up for a year and then leave me on the street homeless and bereft with a criminal record where nobody will give me a job? Who's the Frieking Victim you idiot!?!?!?!

Alcohol is much more deadly than marijuana and if it weren't for the laws against it, the cartels wouldn't be getting rich selling it here. It was prohibition that made All Capone rich and it's the drug war that's making the drug cartels rich.

If the government would let people grow their own pot nobody would buy from mexico or from anybody for that matter.

The drug cartels and smugglers are in business because marijuana is illegal if it was legal there would be a lot less of them in business and a lot less violence.

If it was legal that wouldn't happen now would it? Plus how cloud you say it is harmful, when the killing were not caused by the plant it self?!?! You are just another anti-marijuana uninformed person. Legalize it!

Perhaps if they learned to use the crosswalks properly they wouldn't have this problem. I'm just sayin' !! LOL !! I think they all secretly have a death wish born inside them !!

wow this guy right here (CHETAN) i tottaly agree with him WHAT HE SAID!! so true legalize marijuana i dont even smoke it but it will make things soo much easier n crimes wont be comitted for it,,,,,,,,

Hundreds of cops are killed over other things each year too. For instance, pulling people over for routine traffic violations. This is a retarded question. Obviously if it was legal, the drug smugglers would not be smuggling it, duh.

Another reason to dislike conservatism

they are getting cops killed with their stupid war on drugs