Should Marijuana be legalized?

Reading some of the replies here leads me to believe some people have no idea what marijuana is or does..

To start with you have to understand there will be very little (if not no) good press about weed in the paper, it is very hard to tax and therefore the government will not want it to be legal for a long time.

Whether weed does lead to mental health problems or not.. I find it a very tentative link between "mental illness" and the people who use drugs; as most are probably from a less wealthy, more stressful background and around peoplethat do other drugs. But it does have many positive factors, pain relief, is great to socialise with (compared to alcohol) and also is just plain fun.

Many people jump to a conclusion about marijuana, bvut the illegality of it makes very little difference, in my opinion people are going to enjoy it whether it is illegal or not, the same as people would drink whether it is illegal or not (I think prohibition in the states proved that).

Instead of the government banning it, why not either crack down on dealing, but allow small amounts of personal to be grown, or try and control and tax it themselves as a huge way to make money. Although illegal growing and selling will continue to exist, ways of monitoring peoples usage will become easier.

Anyways, I think everyone needs to try marijuana before judging it.

Peace