I can't see anywhere in the article that says marijuana is safe - can you quote them.

Tobacco is still legal because of the practical problems in an outright ban - public outcry from smokers, policing costs, illegal importation, underground sales. Tobacco smoking is historically embedded in society but the gradual measures in pricing, restrictions and education will eventually close it down. Just because it is still legal does not justify legalising and even more dangerous drug.

Sure, but cost...ugly pictures forced onto packages, display restrictions and a lack of role models smoking probably has a higher effect.

I'm skeptical of calls to increase our medical problems....the state already makes money from mental suffering and addiction....we can add gambling to alcohol and fags.....adding to that doesn't seem like a good argument.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

I didn't say marijuana was safe or should be legalized, I said it was considerably less harmful than tobacco. I now accept the word "considerably" was possibly an emotive addition. However, that alien would still argue: ban one, ban both; keep one, keep both??

Good reasons cited for why one is legal and the other is not, but they are not rational today.

And cannabis has medicinal qualities proven over millennia of use, but it is taking too long to overcome the political hurdles of licensing the extraction of the good bits. This, in turn, is possibly the government's (of all colours) reluctance to anger voters with what appears to be legalizing through the back door.
Again, patent bollox but people strongly hold those views.

Moreover, pharmaceutical use could be a possible boon to poor countries like Nepal where the plant grows in abundance (it's as widespread as bramble is here).

I'd argue against that EDN as a standalone point, given your other points have validity in the debate and I've not kept up with the discussion on this thread.

One is a mind altering substance and the other is not. The reality of Marijuana affecting people's state of mind, the consequences of that societally and the potential for the renowned 'gateway' to worse would be the strongest argument against it IMHO.

That is without the context of all other factors however including the fact that tobacco must have a far worse current effect of the nation's health before we even arrive at alcohol or the vast majority of food available en masse to the population.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Yeah that's fair I agree with all of that bar the gateway theory, as just about everybody I knew growing up smoked it and I've seen the gateways being walked through which is a lived experience as opposed to an academic one. I'd also argue if you generally adopt a culture or way of life that revolves around 'not being sober' most of the time this will inevitably accelerate or exacerbate any likelihood to explore other avenues.

I agree, certainly around alcohol most of all, that the comparison is valid and it is cultural as to why one is treated one way and the other differently, but to the same extent I would not adopt a 'this is legal, can do this to you, so up to you' approach to a mind altering substance, whereas cigarettes are not.

Government intervention is there for law and more relatively order, and Marijuana is deemed to threaten this and I think fairly. A government's right to tell you that you cannot smoke a plant is surely comparable to saying at what age you can smoke tobacco, or where you can and can't walk freely in the body God gave you without covering up, or where you can build a house for yourself etc. It's a too loose and sentimentally based statement to make I'd suggest.

I should point out that I am not arguing against you however, I just thought Cigarettes and Marijuana are two different things and should not be compared in the context of why one is legal and the other not. Cigarettes are extremely harmful for you, even more so than I think most people realise, but so is the likes of obesity and inactivity, sugar etc however these are lifestyle choices, very hard to control. Marijuana is a mind altering substance, whether it be a plant or not, and any government must therefore take responsibility for determining it's legality given the potential consequences for society in having people en masse legally able to change their state of mind quite quickly (as with alcohol).

Whether they do that well or not, especially when other mind altering substances are legally available, is a whole different conversation and one I'd happily get into and most likely agree with you on, if I had the time (this has taken me a good few minutes lol)!

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!