WHY ISN'T POT LEGAL IN U.S.?

When I first moved here, I thought marijuana was illegal. And then
after living here a few years, I realized that everyone and their mom
either smokes it, buys it, grows it, or sells it. So then I thought
weed wasn't illegal. But then in the past few weeks, I've been hearing
about these drug busts and house raids and farms getting shut down,
which has made me start to think, once again, that marijuana is in
fact illegal.

I grew up thinking weed was BAD. Just say no to drugs. Marijuana is a
gateway drug. It's addictive, and it'll get you hooked on harder drugs
like ice and cocaine. Somewhere, somehow this was ingrained in me.

But then I started going to public school, and a lot of my friends
were smoking it. They made special brownies, and they ate them in
class ... and they always got good grades! When I went to college in
California, everyone in the dorms smoked it -- all the time. And many
of them were honor students. I found the same thing happening when I
studied in England. Those Brits love their pot. They actually roll
their marijuana with tobacco so they don't smoke it all one time --
weed is hard to come by in those areas. But when I visited Amsterdam,
I found pot on every corner. I remember walking into a coffee shop
there and being absolutely astounded with their menu. Right next to
their coffee list was a list of marijuana strains! They even had
complementary pipes and hookahs for free samples of the herb.

When I worked as a professional on Oahu, I found that a lot of
business owners and all these rich, white guys smoked weed for
recreation. That was a little shocking for me.

But then I moved here, and nothing really shocked me anymore. Everyone
-- young and old, rich and poor, local and haole -- was smoking it.

And it made sense to me. For one, the lifestyle here is so laid back.
Everything is chill, and the marijuana high seems to complement that.
And two, the farmland and weather conditions here are prime for
cannabis. You don't have to do anything to the plant. Just throw it in
the ground and it grows. And three, there aren't many other jobs or
sources of income on this island (yet) to sustain everyone who wants
to live here.

In my time here, listening to different people's stories, I've learned
that marijuana is sacred and natural, that it can expand the mind and
take you to higher states of consciousness. That would explain why
some of the kindest and wisest people I've met are advocates of the
herb. And I don't really have to say this because it's so obvious, but
smokers of marijuana are way more peaceful, loving, and conscious than
most alcohol drinkers out there. And yet, somehow, alcohol is totally
a legal drug (and a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S.).

I was reading the forums online regarding the pot busts on this
island, and different people have their different beliefs.

Some people think weed is a danger to society and to the youth. Some
people think it should be taxed and controlled. Some people think
cannabis is still illegal because it's a threat to big industries like
pharmaceuticals, tobacco, cotton and oil. Many believe that
criminalizing it is a way to simply control the masses.

But there seems to be no disagreement about this: marijuana frees the
mind.

The main reason people love the herb is the same reason other people
fear it. If everyone smoked weed, this world might be happy, healthy,
peaceful, and free. People might actually quit their jobs and start
doing what they love. Society, as we know it, would come tumbling down.

Bob Marley once said, "The more people smoke herb, the more Babylon
fall."

Babylon is falling.