I'm taking amphetamines LEGALLY. Let me ask you:

[Deja Q]

If amphetamines can be legal and controlled, why not marijuana? :shrug:

(I'm now doping it up on Adderall. :D )

[lanparty]

1. So am I ...

In fact, the military recognizes the values of certain amphetimines and feeds them to their pilots in combat. There are some pitfalls and you cannot go hog wild on the stuff.

That being said, where amphetimines make you more aware, marijauna dampens the senses. Not nearly as badly as alchohol though ;-)

The question really is a red herring because marijauna doesn't NEED to be controlled. During prohibition, marijauna was LEGAL. You would expect subtance abusers to switch from the illegal substance (alcohol) to the legal substance (marijauna). In fact, this did not happen. The marijauna industry did not grow during that period.

Marijauna has NEVER been a problem. At least not a problem proportional to alcohol. Some people will abuse it, as some people will abuse caffiene and aerosol spray :shrug: The attempt to "control" it causes more problems than the original "abuse".

[lanparty]

2. BTW ...

... try the XR version if you can. It helps not having to remember the second dose ;-)

[Obamarama]

9. OMG...XR is the only way to go!!!

I just switched over from taking three 10mg doses of Ritalin a day to one extended release Concerta a day. What a difference. No peaks and valleys. Yes...amphetamines are dandy!

[salvorhardin]

3. Because Marijuana has traditionally

been the drug of choice of the poor and the ethnic populations. Heaven forbid junior start acting like the shiftless gardener or maid, or the poor and ethic populations have any damn fun. Just another facet of racism (that's not the word I want... can't really think right now) in America. I suspect you already knew that though having read your posts. :-)

Also, in a way, it is a form of mind control. Drugs like pot help people think outside of the prescribed cultural mindset. That's dangerous (at least to the people in power). That however, is my own theory. You're welcome to disagree.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

4. Come sit over here and have a chat with me for a sec...

I've wondered about that myself.

I could to go my local grocery store and get something like Metabolift, with Ma Huang (herbal form of ephedrine) and buy it for $11 a bottle and be speedier than Speedy Gonzalez. (Disclaimer: didn't they pull ephedra off the market??)

I used to have an rx for a decongestant that I would take in combo with an OTC antihistamine that gave me the NICEST, mellowest buzz EVER.

I could go get enough alcohol to get myself drunker than Cooter Brown.

All. Perfectly. Legal.

But smoke a certain plant? Nope.

Doesn't make any sense to me, never has, never will.

[DrWeird]

5. It is here in Oregon.

I once gave a guy a ride to Fred Meyers so he could fill his prescription.

Kind of weird. But in a cool way.

[Sporadicus]

6. Because MJ is a Major Threat to the Pharmaceutical Industry

Imagine if people were able to grow their own marijuana to smoke whenever they were feeling stressed rather than pop Xanax or Valium. Marijuana has a host of other medical uses as well - and each one would further undercut pharmaceutical profits. The companies COULD synthesize extracts from cannabis - if it were legal - but what's the incentive to buy prescriptions when anyone could grow it in their garden or under grow-lights?

Cannabis represents a threat to corporate America in other ways as well. Consider the alcoholic beverage industry. What if it became as socially acceptable to spark up as to order a martini at 'happy hour?'

The paper industry would have conniptions over legal hemp, since it makes a better paper product than wood chips.

Cotton and wool producers balk at legal hemp, which can be spun into fabric for clothing.

Speaking of clothing...how about polyester - components of which come from petroleum? The petro industry has many reasons to oppose legal hemp: potential as an alternative fuel and as a substitute for other derivatives from petroleum.

Finally and most importantly, the government itself opposes legalizing marijuana from the black-market standpoint. It represents a vast market over which they would have little control - and which would generate huge profits from which they could derive no TAXES! Local governments oppose legalization because many municipalities and fiefdoms are running rackets where 'select' dealers pay for protection, while 'indies' are prosecuted and assets seized.

[Deja Q]

7. Both edification and more reasons to hate the corporitization of the world

:yourock:

[Nikia]

8. Marijuana is safer

Amphetimines are much more likely to cause cardiovascular problems and panic attacks than marijuana. Strangely, Marinol (synthetic THC) is sold by prescription and usually gets patients more stoned than marijuana. As others have mentioned before, it is illegal because no company can own and profit off its medical use like they do other prescriptions.