Smoking a Toke May Be Legalized and Regulated Soon Enough

In a recent issue of The Economist magazine, there was an article describing the the results of a poll in regards to people's news about marijuana.
The question was:
Marijuana should be legalised, taxed and regulated.
The responses were as follows:
Agree
Disagree
Don't Know

When excluding the people who responded with "Don't Know," the great majority-roughly two-thirds of the entire surveyed population-said they agreed.

For one of my presentations for a class, I argued that the war on drugs has not been successful, and that policy makers should focus on being more proactive rather than reactive. This means that instead of severely punishing people indicted for drug use, policies should focus more on prevention.

People who do not agree might believe that when drugs like marijuana are legalized, havoc will be brought upon society and tearing apart the fabric that holds society together. I ask, what is so different between smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and smoking marijuana?

As someone who does not smoke marijuana, I truly believe that the illegality of marijuana does more harm than good. Cigarettes are severely taxed, raising revenue for other projects such as public works, and because cigarette consumption is more elastic for younger populations, heavy taxation on tobacco products has deterred many young people from smoking.

The same policies could be implemented should marijuana be decriminalized. I also believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered, but that is a topic for another time.

Check out this article:
http://economics.about.com/od/incometaxestaxcuts/a/legalize_pot.htm

For a compelling case by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago, check out the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLsCC0LZxkY&feature=related
The most interesting quote I believe from this video is:
"Crack would never have existed...if we had not had drug prohibition."
Non-economists might question the veracity of this claim, but should it prove to be true, then the drug prohibition was counterproductive on this front as well: Crack cocaine is considered one of the single most damaging products introduced to American society, especially amongst African Americans. Thus, the drug prohibition had devastating effects that extended well beyond the simple use of marijuana.
For more information about the damage of crack cocaine on society, check out this article by