Before it was even outlawed the marijuana plant was surrounded by controversy mostly due to the fact that it was still legal to possess during an era when alcohol had been forbidden. This era was one of propaganda which blossomed debates over various issues and commonly took on the guise of a battle between good and evil. On the issue of marijuana, the plant itself was characterized as an evil spirit that would infest the youth with addiction in a fashion comparable to demonic possession. Deliberately, the right-wing conservatives, those who spread the irrationalized arguments against marijuana, exploited the naivety of American society of those times in order to transform their ramblings into popularized truths that in reality are myths with no real foundations. The problem now being, like trying to convince the masses who believe the world is flat that it is in fact round, a universally accepted falsehood is much harder to unravel than just a regular fabrication. Of course, like any debatable issue the legalization of marijuana is not a one-sided topic it in fact becomes a delicate comparative of pros and cons which leads to the issue's three-decade strong non-resolvability. The fact is that marijuana smoking is a health risk that affects the brain, the performance and the lungs of a person.
It is also verifiable that marijuana consumption has fluctuated through the decades since its prohibition and has a consequence the plant has been bred to be more potent. In correlation, the purpose of this thesis is not to debunk those true factoids but to separate myth from reality and simultaneously compare marijuana to alcohol and tobacco in order to establish the substance's eligibility for legalization.
The half truths that conceived the myths of marijuana came from similar sources who opposed liquor, tobacco, jazz, rock, rap, provocative dress, pinball machines, video games, comic books, television and a catalog of innumerable issues but all of which who for the most part remain entirely legal.
