Marijuana is safer than cigarettes and alcohol but it is hardly harmless and we definitely don't know enough about its effect on the brain especially amongst younger users. But of course you will often see such concerns dismissed.
And few people are seriously proposing that we regulated it less than alcohol and cigarettes, so where exactly is the irrational bias?
It doesn't have to be magical hippy juice to legalize it, being safer than alcohol or tobacco is reason enough to legalize it. Hell, the clear racial motivations for the initial banning and the continuation of it are reason enough to legalize it.
I'm a great deal more worried about tobacco and alcohol binging in youths, or in the privacy nonsense and the social stuff, then I am about some weed.
If you really want to argue "Think of the children!" look at Portugal's decriminalization for the past decade, and see if they have any numbers for you. Stop scaremongering.
If we say that legalization is rational and its irrational emotional concerns that keep it illegal, it would make some sense, right?
See, when I talk face to face to people who are against it, they usually accept all the logic to legalize it, then say something like, "well, yes, but I just don't like the idea". They then shut down.
So, I do think there is something in it. Not universally, but I reckon there is a correlation.
True but they at least have facts ready to support their biases. ;)
So many nerds assume they're above confirmation bias without considering the sophistication effect.
[citation needed]