I think weed is illegal cause the government makes more $ by keeping it illegal.
If weed was opening sold and common to use as alcohol is, sales of both booze and tobacco would go down, maybe way down/, that would offset any gain in taxers by selling weed legally.
While i agree with the 1st part of your post where you said "The government makes more $ keeping it illegal " i dont agree with the 2nd point you brought up about alcohol & ciggs , those are 2 entirely different addictions as well as different effects on the body , people who smoke " NEED " nicotine like heroin users need heroin , also people who like to drink allready have a ready supply of Mj a phone call away unless they live on Mars , 99% of long term smokers dont even need legal pot & in most cases its a novelty .
Durring the 2 years i owned & operated a co-op in Michigan i only met a dozen or so true med patients with no idea how to score a sack o bud on the street & were forced to buy from me .
The government is allready growing mj & so is big business & they are getting better at it by the day , the big problem is neither has been able to figure out exact THC & Cannaboid content of each harvest or strain , just like alcohol , ciggs & prescription drugs the gov requires users know exact amounts of active ingredients .
Fully legal government taxed weed is on its way of that im sure , look at the baby shampoo company Johnson & Johnson & how they have become the worlds largest grower/supplier of raw opium , this is whats gonna happen with weed .
Unfortunately pot is gonna end up like tobacco where its washed of all active ingredients , ground to a pulp then have exact amounts of Thc & cannaboid extract added to each pre rolled joint , the shit wont even resemble the weed we have now a will most likely be sold on the multi level like alcohol , beer as the weakest & cheapest that will be the floor sweepings at the pot factory , wine & weak liquors will be equated with shit brick weed , top flight bud will be like hard liquor & the most expensive .
This isnt gonna end up how many think where its a free for all & were all running around with killer legal joints that cost $1 each , its gonna be expensive as hell & shit product .