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1. Less strain on resources of criminal justice system. (ie. prisons, courts, law enforcement agencies) It currently costs 43,000 a year to incarcerate a person. It seems a little silly to pay this for somebody arrested for possesion of marijuana.These resources in turn could be used to combat more important issues. Violent crime comes to mind. Not to mention to a large extent this exposes a lot of non violent productive people to a "hard" criminal element and lifestyle as well as the ramifications of a felony conviction. 2. To keep kids off drugs. This is twofold. First if sold through traditional means marijuana would be harder for minors to acquire. (It's currently harder for a minor to get alcohol or cigarettes than pot. Second, minors would less likely to be exposed to other drugs as a result of not going to ilicit dealers that often sell a variety of much more harmful substances(ie. meth ,cocaine etc.) 3. Tax revenues generated. These could be put into our schools as well as drug prevention programs. 4. The environment. The fiber from the hemp plant is extremely well suited for making paper and cloth. This would eliminate the need for a lot of trees being cut. When grown it is very hearty and can be grown with little or no pesticides, further increasing its environmental impact. The seeds are also very energy rich with oils. Answer In addition to the reasons above, there are also the following reasons: 1) The marijuana laws were based on racism, ignorance, and nonsense from the very beginning. Marijuana was outlawed for two primary reasons. The first was racial prejudice against Mexican immigrants and other minorities. The second was the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana -- exactly the opposite of the modern gateway myth. See, for example, the short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm For a more extensive review of the history of the drug laws and the lunacy behind them, see The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm and The Drug Hang-Up by Rufus King - http://druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhumenu.htm

2) Every major study of the drug laws in history has concluded that the marijuana laws were nonsense from the very beginning and that they should have been repealed long ago because they do more harm than good. See

Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy - http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/studies.htm

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13y ago

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