It's about self interest. People argue in favor of that which they do. Mary Jane is a very seductive mistress. And lot of guys are here making passionate defenses of her. They get very irate if you slight her. You can clearly see this is personal, not at all academic.
I smoked the stuff for a very long time. I know the allure. She was my muse. I was only able to give it up forever when I started being honest with myself about what it was doing to my mind and my spirit and when I decided that my wife and family deserved a better me. I understood that God was not neutral in the choices I was making and I stopped.
I don't really have an opinion on legalization. I guess I'd be in favor of some kind of effective decriminalization that allowed industrious users to grow their own (it's not hard, I've done it myself several times). I have a hard time rationalizing the government telling anyone what they can grow. But seeing the stuff normalized to the point of being advertised and sold alongside cigarettes at the store would be an utter disaster for America. I don't know how many more disatsers this country can take at this point.
Who should make those decisions, fedgov or the states?