There’s a vast range of people that oppose the legalization of Marijuana for a range of reasons. Some reasons are acceptable but a lot are very strange and selfish. Most people are just plain ignorant of the facts, refusing to accept cannabis. Its being proven to help medically, and its also a well known fact that cannabis does considerably less damage to your body than alcohol and cigarettes. So why is cannabis still illegal in many countries around the world?

The Uninformed – These are the people that have being misinformed about how harmful marijuana is to society. They truly believe that cannabis is the drug of the devil.

The Government – Because Cannabis has been illegal for a very long time, no politicians will stand up for marijuana and tell the truth about pot. Any politician that does are labelled as a druggie by the opposition which makes it a very tough battle.

Religion – Religion turn there nose up at drugs completely, this is for a number of reasons. The main being that if a religious group fought for the legalization of cannabis, they may loose many members. Religion is loosing its place in modern day society, its being replaced by modern day media. This is a tough enough battle as it is for religious leaders.

Moralizers – Moralizers are better than you, they always have been and always will be. There not arrogant either, just better than us. That’s what they think anyway and because of this they look down their noses at drug users and druggies alike.

People that don’t do drugs – People that don’t agree with drugs at all. They don’t drink, smoke and in some extremes don’t even drink coffee. They don’t understand why anyone would want to take any drugs, the world would be a better place without drugs. I used to be one of these people.

The Alcohol Lobby – Legalizing cannabis could have a massive impact on alcohol sales. The Alcohol Lobby are worried that cannabis will replace alcohol as the recreational drug of choice. Worldwide this could cost billions and have major impacts on the world trade market.

The Tobacco Lobby – It has being proven that cannabis can help people break a nicotine addiction. However the less people that smoke cigarettes, the less money that is made by the government. This money has to me made elsewhere.

Law Enforcement – Law enforcements spend large amounts of money and time to fight marijuana, money and time that could be much better spent hunting murderers and rapists. These are funds that could be returned to the tax payer and put to better use. The funds could be used to create new educational facilities for underprivileged children.

Pot Dealers – All pot dealers would be out of business almost instantly, prices would be slashed and all crime related to cannabis dealing would vanish over night.

Wood Industry – You may wonder why wood industry cares so much, well its there wood that creates paper and building materials. However hemp could be used as a source of fibre and replace wood and put an end to the wood industry. That means we wouldn’t have to continue cutting down the worlds forests and upsetting the natural habitat even further than we already have.

Private Prisons – Private prisons would not be as crowded, and because of this would loose revenue. However this would create room for people that have committed more serious offences.

Trial Lawyers – When the average joe is faced with cannabis related criminal chargers, they go running to the lawyers. Lawyers make billions every year defending marijuana cases.

Mental Hospitals – If you smoke cannabis then you instantly have mental problems, well according to the mass media anyway. Mental hospitals generate huge revenues treating people for problems that don’t exist. If cannabis was legalized, mental hospital staff would have to get real jobs.

Republicans – Smoking cannabis gives you a distinct advantage, you can step back and look at reality to see how the world really is. Once your stoned you have a new found tolerance for political issues. It becomes harder to hate homosexuals and other races for example. You begin to dislike violence and racism, and anything that has a negative impact on society.

Political Cowards – Politicians are all about votes, being a politician is essentially a popularity contest in suits. Politicians often pose with figures of authority to spread the anti-cannabis message. Political cowards need an artificial issue to face up against so they can avoid the real issues that require real thinking.

Others – There’s a vast range of groups that would feel a negative effect if cannabis was legalized. This may be out of the box thinking, however hospitals would have less alcohol related incidents to deal with (Specifically a problem with privatised health services), Car garages would have less repairs, Pubs and Clubs that didn’t join the new trend would suffer. Governments worldwide have put years of work into integrating smoking bans, these would be undermined. A lot of people have a lot to lose.

As you can see, there are some groups that hold key places in today’s society with serious issues about the legalizing of cannabis. Although most of these issues are rather selfish and money greedy, some do have a fair point. If large scales of people were out of work, taxes would have to reflect this for example.

What are your thoughts? This is a hot topic for discussion, let us know in the comments below.

In a string of arrests, the latest, a Vietnamese man has being arrested by British police after a number of Cannabis farm were discovered in Swindon, UK.

Binh Nguyen received a 4 year prison sentence on the 5th of June, while his wife and 3 other men were sentenced on the 29th of May. The 43 year old man, whose wife escaped a jail sentence after the court had heard she had children aged 2 years and 8 months hold cried as he was sentenced.

Binh Nyugen was originally arrested last summer when police found a number of rented properties which had being converted into cannabis growing factories.

The prosecutor for Swindon Crown Court said

hundreds of plants were being cultivated in each of the properties by specialist hydroponics methods to increase the yields.

Nguyen had been responsible for organising the lease on houses in Haydon Street, Alexandra Road and Edgar Row Close, Wroughton, where cannabis farms were found.

The wholesale value of the yield at those properties was £18,500 at Haydon Street, £21,000 at Alexandra Road and £73,000 at Edgar Row Close.

At Mr. Nguyens home in Padstow Road, police found a range of equipment to grow the drugs as well as 88 bags of specialized fertilizer. When he was originally arrested he was carrying a bag of cannabis.

In Mr. Nyugens trial, he pleaded guilty to the cultivation of cannabis and possession with the intent to supply. The court heard in total he earned £189,990.53 but only had assets to repay £4,750.53.

Rob Ross, defending Mr Nyugen said his client had fully co-operated with police investigations.

“They are illegal immigrants. They were made in effect offers they could not refuse because they needed somewhere to live.”

Judge John McNaught said:

“A painstaking inquiry by the police revealed a network of houses in Swindon which had been adapted for the large-scale production of cannabis.”

“It is illegal and it is damaging to our society and it is the sort of organised crime that the courts in England will take very seriously.”

He jailed Nguyen for a total of 4 years and ordered that he pay £4,750.53 in the next 6 months or serve an additional 3 months in prison. The courts are also considering deportation.