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"to support policies that acheive nothing except provide welfare to government employees"

Let's say we legalized pot. Name one federal employee who would lose his job. One.

Oh sure, we'll stop arresting users and dealers (over 21, that is -- there'll still be illegal underage use). Will police department fire cops? Will some courtrooms shut down? Judges fired? Prosecutors fired?

Will we close any prisons? Fire any guards?

You say illegal pot provides welfare to government employees, but you can't show me any "welfare" savings if we legalize it. What's your point?

I'd be willing to bet good money that if we legalized and regulated pot, we'd actually end up with more government employees handling tax collection, licensing, and enforcement of regulations.

You say illegal pot provides welfare to government employees, but you can't show me any "welfare" savings if we legalize it. What's your point?

684,000 people were arrested in 2004 for possession of marijuana alone, and another 87,000 for dealing in it, more than for all violent crimes. 40% of all arrests are drug related. I would expect the need for police and prisons would decline significantly if marijuana was legalized.

In Washington state the King County Sheriff, who is pretty conservative, became a representative and wrote an article complaining that the Bush Administration was cutting funds for meth lab eradication because they wanted to put more emphasis on marijuana, which they believe is more dangerous than Meth.

Also, if you watch the LEAP video, the New Jersey cops say that before the Nixon drug war his department had 7 officers dealing with drugs in that department and it immediately went to 76 when the drug war started, an increase of 1000%. Back then, if you passed a joint to a cop it was considered dealing, and you could get 7 years.

In Washington state, you have to get arrested 7 times to do time for car theft, so even if they did not reduce the prisons, they might have room for the real criminals around us.

I'd be willing to bet good money that if we legalized and regulated pot, we'd actually end up with more government employees handling tax collection, licensing, and enforcement of regulations.

Here is a pretty informative link about the cost of the drug war in terms of incarceration:

Cost of the drug war

What I find amazing is that the incarceration rate was between 90-120 per 100,000 before the war and is now up to a staggering 325 per 100,000. You can deny that has increased the cost of government and number of employees but you would be fooling yourself.