So do you agree with Ted Cruz that it is up to the state to decide legalization, or do you want fedgov to decide?
I actually have not said much about legalization or criminalization; there are arguments to support leaving it to the states, and to support making it a federal matter. And since I am not a legal junkie (and, in fact, detest the legal system and the way it complicates everything), I will not express any opinion on that topic.
What I am doing here is pointing out that any decision to decriminalize marijuana needs to be made on a better basis than arbitrary decisions made in the absence of good data. A lot of misinformation is used to convince people that decriminalization isn't bad. However, historically, drug use was legal in the US up through the 1800s. I do not think the decision to criminalize drug use was made arbitrarily--I think it must have been prompted by the observation that drug abusers become very damaged and, as a result, become a burden on the rest of society because no one seems willing to just let drug addicts crawl off and die. Our society insists on giving them basic survival supplies.