Legalize the herb of the soul (Argument)

I have a very simple stance on this matter which i think it should be legalized for many obvious reasons. Many people tend to forget that Alcohol is a drug which is legal that is abused and has many recorded negative factors. Rape, liver failure, theft, abuse, fights and Death in many different ways one most common is drunk driving. Now look into the negative occurrences under the influence of Marijuana, that is just one slight stance i have on the issue.

Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, who is not on a definite pro or con, i believe who would want to hear our president conducts himself in illegal natures, I found some pros about the issue. "When it comes to medical marijuana, I have more of a practical view than anything else. My attitude is that if it's an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else. I think there are legitimate concerns in not wanting to allow people to grow their own or start setting up mom and pop shops because at that point it becomes fairly difficult to regulate." "I would not punish doctors if it's prescribed in a way that is appropriate. That may require some changes in federal law.I will tell you that...the likelihood of that being real high on my list is not likely." From these quotes I see that he believes if it is for real medical reasons then yes hes thumbs up for it. As for actually making it legal is going to take a lot of time and efforts that are very possible but there are other tasks he has to take order to 1st before this act.

Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, who lands on a clear con on the issue belives strongly on the opposite end. "I believe marijuana should be illegal in our country. It is the pathway to drug usage by our society, which is a great scourge -- which is one of the great causes of crime in our cities. And I believe that we are at a state where, of course, we are very concerned about people who are suffering pain, and there are various means of providing pain management. And those that have had loved ones that have gone through an end of life with cancer know the nature of real pain. I watched my wife's mom and dad, both in our home, both going through cancer treatment, suffering a great deal of pain. But they didn't have marijuana, and they didn't need marijuana because there were other sources of pain management that worked entirely effectively. I'm told there is even a synthetic marijuana as well that is available. But having legalized marijuana, in my view, is an effort by a very committed few to try and get marijuana out into the public and ultimately legalize marijuana. It's a long way to go. We need less drugs in this society, not more drugs, and I would oppose the legalization of marijuana in the country or legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes because pain management is available from other sources." This is what i like to say is the old school dad, who hears the word drugs and see no good outcome in the whole issue for drugs are bad and only bring problems.

Question: why is it that alcohol is legal and marijuana isnt? after all dont people die very often from alcoholism related incidents. 

http://2012election.procon.org/view.answers.election.php?questionID=1712

http://2012election.procon.org/view.answers.election.php?questionID=1711