The price of gas in America

[Weltall]

Well, one reason prohibition of alcohol didn't work so well is because a person can just brew beer in their own basement if they wanted to.

That's not the real reason, though. If alcohol were always an illegal substance, there would have been much less desire to homebrew hooch. The fatal flaw of Prohibition was that alcohol use is something that has been a part of human culture since someone drank old juice seven trillion years ago and found out that it makes you feel nice and floaty. Wine has been around since practically the beginning of civilization, and alcohol use obviously as well, so that by 1918, there was no chance of temperance being successful. Instead, the many problems of alcoholism were, if anything, far worse during those years, and of course, Prohibition more than anything else gave rise to organized crime in general, and the Mafia in particular.

If the pleasant side-effects of mary jane had been discovered thousands of years ago, and the trend caught on, you'd be able to buy doobies in packs of twenty at 7-11 today right next to the Camel Lights, and there's no way you could make it illegal. As it so happens, the drug really didn't catch on in a big way until the counterculture of the 60's popularized it, so it was illegalized and quashed long before it could become a part of the human psyche.

As far as tobacco, as I understand, cultivating tobacco leaves is a far more complex and involved process than marijuana, and tobacco really isn't something you can grow with flourescents in the basement.

As far as my own beliefs, I do believe in the decriminalization of pot, because, while I personally have no desire to smoke, I do drink occasionally, and I can enjoy it without allowing myself to let it become a threat to others. I do not think it is far to make pot illegal while allowing alcohol, and I do think both have inherent dangers, but I also think that a majority of people safely control their alcohol consumption and they could also safely control marijuana consumption.