Marijuana is unique among controlled substances in that ithas an unprecedented counter culture that surrounds it. Just Google marijuanaand I will guarantee that that you will find an overwhelming amount of forums, activistpages, magazine websites, medical marijuana dispensaries, conventions,arguments for and against prohibition, paraphernalia stores, and of courseblogs dedicated to the subject ;). There is such a large following that if youdidn’t know marijuana was illegal you would have a hard time believing it is.What is so unique about cannabis that gives it so much appeal even though it isillegal to possess, sell, and consume it? Why are we not seeing this phenomenonwith other controlled substances? Since there is such a large following thenwhy hasn’t anyone seen the potential of legalization? There are many answers tothese questions but I plan to highlight the big picture surrounding the subjectof the 420 counterculture.

                Why ismarijuana so appealing to so many people in the country? I guess a superficialanswer would be that “it gets you high”, an answer I usually receive frompeople in favor of prohibition, but I’m not willing to accept that as the mainreason. A lot of things get you high, cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, psychedelicmushrooms, meth, peyote, nitrous oxide, Oxycotton, Demerol, and a plethora ofother prescription drugs. But none of these have the same dedicated followingthat matches marijuana. The simplest way I can describe why cannabis is sopopular is by combining two broad reasons, it’s safer than other recreationaldrugs (including alcohol) and it’s enjoyable to use. These are the very basicreasons why marijuana has such a large following. Sure there are other reasonsthat are involved but most of them stem from these two categories. The factthat it is enjoyable seems to be an obvious reason for its use, but there areother drugs like heroin, meth, and crack cocaine that at first may be used forenjoyment but quickly transition into being used to maintain an addiction. Veryrarely is anyone a slave to marijuana addiction and this allows people tocontinue using without many negative effects. This brings us to the next reasonfor its popularity which is its relatively safe use. No one overdoses on marijuanalike many other drugs which is why marijuana maintains its popularity innumbers and which is also why we don’t see this phenomenon with other “harder”drugs. No one is killing themselves with it. This safe appearance of cannabiswithin the 420 counterculture maintains its popularity. Because it is soenjoyable and because it is safer to use marijuana has gained an epic fan basein this country and is also the reason why harder drugs do not follow this sametrend.

                Withmarijuana as popular as it is why hasn’t anyone seen the potential oflegalization? The answer to this question is much simpler. People have seen thepotential for legalization and more often than not it is the marijuana user andactivist that sees it. The user does not want to have to sneak around trying tofind weed somewhere, they would much rather want to walk into a store andpurchase it without having to look over their shoulder. People who want to endprohibition are not criminals but everyday people that want to see crimedecrease and more jobs created from marijuana legalization. The main hurdle toleap over in order to end prohibition is to overcome the negative stigma thatmarijuana has acquired over the years. We can see that we are achieving thisgoal with recent polls showing that half of Americans would like to seemarijuana legalized. After all overcoming this stigma and ending prohibition iswhat the 420 movement is truly all about.