Obama: Nanny of the Month

Yeah, i voted for it myself. I think the question of whether or not making marijuana easily available as a recreational drug has largely been answered by the various “medical” marijuana programs around the US. In many places, such as Oakland and SF, the situation is basically that if you want it, you can get it, and there just doesn’t seem to have been an outbreak of reefer madness. Plus, the absurdity of alcohol being legal and weed illegal is obvious. The arguments you hear about “kids taking it” and “stoned drivers” apply just as strongly to booze. The tough part would be getting past the initial phase. At the beginning, people who didn’t do it before (or very often) would rush out to buy, and the media and lawyers would be waiting with slavering lips to cover every little story of chaos and destruction.
The decriminalization effects would be profound. As you say, it would put a whole class of criminals out of business, and clear out space in the prisons. Taxes would be brought in, and thousands of new jobs created in the above-ground economy. Farmers (Mendocino County is one of the best places to grow dope in the US), wholesalers, retailers, etc.
And finally, I’ve always thought it would reduce use of harder drugs. Not for everyone of course, but a certain percentage of crackheads and tweekers would shift to it because it would then be much easier to get, and with no chance of going to jail.