I'll be honest here, I didn't read anything except the first post.
Keep this in mind while reading my post; I have no idea what has already been said.
I'm going to venture a guess that 65% of the posts in here don't actually have anything to do with the original.
So..
WHY is Cannabis illegal?
The OP seemed to be looking for our own justifications. The benefits, if you will, of having cannabis be illegal.
The benefits of being lawbreakers are few and far between. One benefit for sure is that, as it is a black market item, no taxes on cannabis.
But, it being a black market item also means that there is no standardized requirements for selling. Anyone can sell any bunk to anyone else and there is no one to hold the seller accountable. Or the grower for using things they shouldn't, or for not flushing properly. If you get bad product, it's your own problem. There's no one to complain to.
The other end of the black market issue is that BECAUSE cannabis is illegal, most of us are forced into supporting organized crime by buying the drug we choose, want or need. Unfortunately, this reality comes with our current system, as shameful as that is. I'm not okay with funding gangs, but by design the current system makes me fund them. They also control the market, so they decide how much the risk of growing/selling is worth, and they can create inflation accordingly without any (again) control or say in it by "we the people" (and, remember... that's supposedly who the government represents).
The other "benefit" to having it be illegal is that it's not controlled like alcohol, and cigarettes are. Anyone can buy it at any time. You can bet your ass that the dealer isn't going to ask for ID, or cut you off when you've had enough.
But to me, that in itself is an issue. There is no concrete proof that cannabis has any more of an effect on a child's developing brain than it does on an adult brain, but even still, the undeniable loss of short term memory can affect school performance, which most adults agree is an important part of teenaged life. That being said, I had no problem getting my hands on alcohol as a teen, and certainly no problem getting my hands on smokes either, so while that deters some, it's really not that big of a hurdle to overcome.
Still, some control in that aspect is probably better than the free for all we have now.
In the grand scheme of things, "WHY IS CANNABIS ILLEGAL?" is a much deeper question than "What are the benefits of leaving a huge factor in a lot of peoples lives completely unregulated?"
Cannabis is illegal because it wore less than cotton, for starters. Hemp canvas sails lasted four years on a ship. Cotton canvas sails must be replaced more often, which equals more money for the people in the cotton industry. Same goes for clothes, and most of our cotton products. Hemp would have seriously hindered the cotton industry in growth had it been left legal. Up until 80 some odd years ago, Hemp was a norm for almost everything.
When cannabis was MADE illegal, the term "marijuana" was coined, and was actually a term of bigotry for people of latin descent. The American government came up with a new word, and lobbied against "marijuana". When it was made illegal it came to light that what "marijuana" is is a secondary product of the plant that makes Hemp.
And make no mistake about that, our ancestors (ALL OF THEM) primarily used HEMP. Not as a means to alter reality, but as a sturdy cloth first and foremost. The majority of our treasured human artifacts in terms of created art are on HEMP canvas'.
Not to mention the use of "marijuana" throughout human history as a spiritual aid, a medicine, tincture, and as a healing aid.
Cannabis is also illegal because we've reached a point where no one alive today can remember a time when cannabis was legal. When cannabis grew in the back garden. When cannabis was a part of every day life. Now we're accustomed to the backwards way things are already being run, and people are complacent enough in mediocrity that they're not willing to fight for it.
It is the slander campaign of the early 1900's that has the majority of us spewing untrue rhetoric that we've been spoon fed our whole lives. Especially those of us raised in the middle of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign.
By even using the term "marijuana" we are perpetuating a stereotype that's not even based in truth.
We perpetuate this also by buying into the caricature of a stoner. By allowing ourselves to fit into the preconceived notion that "potheads" are dead beats. Burn outs with no direction.
By being successful while toking, we can undo this.
GET OFF THE SOAPBOX, WOMAN.
all seem quite anti-illegal views tho 
sorry i got a little buzz goin on! hehehe just a little one
