Alex - Here is a possible reason why the powers that be decided to make marijuana an illegal substance, despite its pretty innocuous characteristics compared to numerous legal drugs...

The ordinary public can grow, harvest, and package it with absolute ease! In their own backyards! This means it is effectively outside of the control of the money machine, unlike coffee, alcoholic beverages, heroin, refined sugar, and all manufactured pharmaceuticals. All of those require a degree of expertise to manufacture that is far beyond what is required in the case of marijuana...thus they are fairly much out of reach of the ordinary public to manufacture...thus they can support a lucrative official business structure which will provide them (at a HIGH price) to an addicted public.

Believe me, a complete idiot can grow and harvest marijuana and roll it into joints and smoke it.

I knew any number of complete idiots in the early to mid-70's who did. They couldn't cook, they couldn't clean the house, they couldn't hold down a job, but by golly they could grow and package marijuana! All you need is earth, water, sunshine, some plastic baggies, and a few rolling papers!

No way the System is gonna allow something like that, when they can't control (meaning: monopolize) the source or the marketing!!!

Better to waste the time and resources of a lot of highly trained police personnel, and keep them dollars rolling in...for the legal manufactured drugs.

- LH