[robertpaulsen]

"I would expect the need for police and prisons would decline significantly if marijuana was legalized."

Unless, as you said later in your post, we would use those resources to go after the "real" criminals.

So, which is it? Will we actually fire people and close prisons or will we maintain the same number of government employees?

[microgood]

So, which is it? Will we actually fire people and close prisons or will we maintain the same number of government employees?

Because of the sheer number locked up for drugs (40% of the prison population), there is no way they could find enough other criminals to take their place unless they start incarcerating smokers or something so there would definitely be an overall decline in the size of government.

My guess is that when the baby boomers retirement hits full steam, the drug war will abate just due to the fact the Federal and State governments will simply not have the funds to continue to fund that particular social experiment.

I was just reading the other day where company drug testing is on the decline because it is ineffective and only catches pot smokers anyway, so now the testing lobby is going after public schools.