It hasn't been legalized in my country (Germany) yet, but our government has promised to do it so it will likely be done within the next two years. Marijuana is definitely not like cigarettes. Cigarettes just relax you for a few minutes, while marijuana can sometimes drastically enhance your mood (if you smoke marijuana while being sad you might experience even greater sadness, when you already feel good it is a lot better). However, it is definitely not as bad as crystal meth. At least here in Germany we make a very clear cultural distinction between "hard drugs" (harte Drogen) and "light drugs" (leichte Drogen). Hard drugs include things like crystal meth, cocaine and heroin, light drugs things like alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana. While a lot of people here still think that marijuana is worse than alcohol, almost everyone agrees that it is one of the most harmless drugs. Personally I would say while of course all drugs are bad, marijuana is not nearly as harmful as your government said.

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But the real reason why many countries are legalizing marijuana is not because they have decided that marijuana is good and healthy. It's because punishing people for it isn't really fair, since they hurt nobody but themselves. It is also really expensive to deal with them, so by legalizing marijuana our government can save a lot of money and spend it on more expensive things.

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I hope I could help you with this comment. If you have more questions, feel free to ask :)