Of course they're not harmless, but neither is the drug violence that comes from them being illegal. We've seen from our own past that prohibition doesn't work, and in places like Amsterdam that legalization does work. So why don't we legalize and tax drugs the same way do with alcohol and tobacco, which can be just as harmful and dangerous? Corrections Inc. lobbyists.



Also, your anecdotal example falls flat, mostly because you confuse correlation with causation. Lots of people are "known to have smoked marijuana in the past" and didn't kill anybody. Lots of killers have never used marijuana. I'm sure Loughner has used alcohol in the past, or perhaps had a head injury, or he could have been born with a brain defect that makes him a sociopath. Why can't any of those things be the reason? They're certainly more likely, since the calming effect of marijuana tends to make people inactive, not murderous. You're just not seeing the whole picture. You're looking two things, marijuana use and murder, and forcing a connection where there isn't one.