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The main issue is that the drug itself is harmless when used responsibly. But as it stands now, if you're caught in a non-legal state you're likely to wind up going to jail. Even worse, usually poorer people are targeted and face the punishment more than those that are more financially well off.
As alcohol prohibition showed, if you make alcohol illegal, it only leads to more crime. Because humanity has been consuming alcohol for over 20,000 years. If there's a want, someone will supply the demand. Luckily prohibition was overturned due to it creating more problems than it solved.
Essentially our "war on drugs" caused the same problem. People had been smoking marijuana since the founding of our country. Even George Washington and Ben Franklin used to partake in it. But once it was banned, that didn't stop the demand. It only pushed the suppliers to supply the product underground.
Decriminalization would definitely be better than outright making it illegal, as it stands in many states. But even that comes with its own set of problems. Such as incarcerating those that sell it, but not those that consume it. The problem is that when selling it is prohibited, the sale of the product itself is inherently unregulated. While very far and few in-between, people have wound up buying laced weed and "spice" which is super SUPER dangerous to consume. But, with legalization, it allows the sale of product that's guaranteed to be not only safe, but regulated.
The main issue is that the drug itself is harmless when used responsibly. But as it stands now, if you're caught in a non-legal state you're likely to wind up going to jail. Even worse, usually poorer people are targeted and face the punishment more than those that are more financially well off.
As alcohol prohibition showed, if you make alcohol illegal, it only leads to more crime. Because humanity has been consuming alcohol for over 20,000 years. If there's a want, someone will supply the demand. Luckily prohibition was overturned due to it creating more problems than it solved.
Essentially our "war on drugs" caused the same problem. People had been smoking marijuana since the founding of our country. Even George Washington and Ben Franklin used to partake in it. But once it was banned, that didn't stop the demand. It only pushed the suppliers to supply the product underground.
Decriminalization would definitely be better than outright making it illegal, as it stands in many states. But even that comes with its own set of problems. Such as incarcerating those that sell it, but not those that consume it. The problem is that when selling it is prohibited, the sale of the product itself is inherently unregulated. While very far and few in-between, people have wound up buying laced weed and "spice" which is super SUPER dangerous to consume. But, with legalization, it allows the sale of product that's guaranteed to be not only safe, but regulated.
