Some of the arguments used in saying pot should not be legalized can be easily used on other things. Others are easily rebutted.

Stonecold posted that it poses a problem when not used resposnisbly.

Then I guess we should make the following, which have all been used irresponsibly at least once over the past 20 years, illegal:
Cars, Offroad vehicles, Motorcycles, Dirt bikes, Bicycles, Guns, Alcohol, spraypaint, hammers, wrenches, rope, cameras (video and still), airplanes, fire...I can go on for days...

Cars was a first good choice, because MGJ posted how a 325 year old woman allowed a 15 year old boy (her boyfriend) to drive her car while under the influence of a drug. There is a lot of irresponsibility in that entire scenario. That car was definately being used irresponsibly, thus all cars should be banned, if we follow the logic of the argument.

Someone posted Pot is a drug, it's illegal and should stay that way.
Alcohol is a drug, it was illegal, but it is not now. Should Alcohol be made illegal again?

How about drugs which are currently not legal because they haven't been approved by the FDA? They are a drug, aren't legal now, thus they should never be made legal....
And let's keep in mind some prescription drugs are controlled substances, or made from illegal drugs.

A couple of people posted about the health problems smoking pot may cause, that it is harmful - those health problems are the exact same as those caused by Ciggarettes, which are legal, so unless Cigarettes should also be made illegal, the health issues caused by smoking pot is irrelevant to the argument of it's legalization. And again,. Alcohol has health issues associated with it's use, should that then result in it being made illegal again?

Other harmful things which are still legal include eating fried and fatty foods, eating Fast food, drinking Soda, breathing city air woth all of the pollution from vehicles and industry....so where do we stop banning things because of the health risks or harmfulness of the itme?

Someone posted about Pot smokers going out (making a 7-11 run, I belive was the phrase) and causing an accident. Well, then Alcohol should be made illegal, since most Alochol use isn't at home, but at bars, resturants, sporting arenas...where after it's consumption people drive home.

Someone posted that Alcohol is consumed for other purposes than to alter one's own state of consciousness, and that Pot is only good for altering one's own state of consciousness. Interesting argument, but then there are Non-Alcoholic Beers and Wines out there, so why is it that this person doesn't have a Non-Alcholic beer with his Barbeque or a non-alcoholic wine with his steak at dinner? And if he does, then why would he have a problem with Alcohol being made illegal, since his non-alcoholic beverages don't contain any alcohol, and thus would still be legal? And why don't resturaunts, bars, sporting arenas, etc. serve only non-alcoholic beverages if the purpose of drinking is not altering the state of one's own conciousness?
That's because part of the allure of drinking is the altering of one's own consciousness, and like beer, the amount of pot you have affects how much your consciousness is altered. Even one beer causes a change in the consumer, no matter how slight that change may actually be.

Pot is only really a gateway drug because you have to buy it from the same people who are selling those other more profitable (i.e. heavily addictive) drugs. It's also easy for those same dealers to lace the pot with other drugs to get them addicted, or to get them into using another drug.

Legalizing Marijuana makes sense, for a few reasons.

None of the reasons posted for keeping marijuana illegal make sense, especially when you look at other things that the logic behind the "keep it illegal" argument can be applied to.