[Mack the knife]

The war on pot was initially justified by raising the fear that white girls would be seduced by black musicians using pot. The arguements have changed a bit since then, but not much.

OK -- using pot has potential bad consequences for some people.

That is an arguement for not USING pot, and arguement that should be presented to every young person.

That is NOT an arguement for CRIMINALIZATING pot.

Many of us hold two beliefs at the same time without contradiction:
1) Using Drugs, including Pot, is bad.
2) The War on Drugs is worse.

I am past 60, and I still haven't heard a good approach for discouraging vices (e.g., use of pot, tobacco, alcohol, prostitution, promiscuous gay sex, etc.) which do not create worse consequences than the vices being discouraged.

The war on pot has killed more people and destroyed more lives (e.g., due to mandatory minimum sentences for simple drug possession) than the pot would have if left alone and discouraged with education. It has resulted in the formation of a police state, and the loss of rights, the loss of restraints placed on the government by the Constitution. It has resulted in the waste of billions of dollars extracted from taxpayers at the point of a gun. It has resulted in the corruption of the justice system, from cops to prosecuters to judges to legislators.

It is time to look at ways of reducing harm, not exchanging the "use of drugs" harm for another which is much worse.

[GoLightly]

Many people would consider your position to be too liberal, as if substance use & abuse dropped out of the sky some time in the 1960's. Before the concern about young white girls' panties, was the attempt to regulate Mexican immigration by some states in the west.

I am past 60, and I still haven't heard a good approach for discouraging vices

The right kind of teaching about faith is as good as it gets.