There is absolutely no reason why pot should remain illegal. And I say that as a card-carrying Extreme Right Wing Republican who wants to starve children and minorities.
Of course there's a reason: The majority of Americans are not in favor of legalization.
I do agree with you if you are talking about California and the other states where the people have spoken at the ballot box.
Ditto your Extreme Right Wing Republican comment. I have never smoked pot, and have never needed to. However, I’m typing this after coming off a 4 day migraine trip. I have a doctor who doesn’t agree with prescribing pain pills willy nilly, and I appreciate that. Years ago, a doctor prescribed Vicodin for my migraines. It scared me. It scared me because I LIKED Vicodin. That was the last bottle I ever had.
I have read reports about THC treatments for migraines. If it’s non addictive and a successful treatment, sign me up. But, it’s illegal both for recreational and medicinal usage here in KY. So, I’ll wait and hope.
Just legalizing pot would deprive these major drug trafficking organizations of most of their income. According to our government marijuana sales Americans accounts for about 62% of the money these Mexican drug trafficking organizations gross from drugs. Their net income form marijuana is probably a good bit higher percentage of their net income from drugs in general because they actually produce the pot. They sell about $8.6 billion worth of pot to Americans and only about $3.9 billion worth of cocaine, the second most widely used illegal drug, but they are only the middlemen for the cocaine. It’s produced in South America. The Mexicans now control most cocaine distribution in the United States but they have to purchase it in South America, get it smuggled to Mexico and then smuggle it here. All of this has to increase their costs, as does the fact that American law enforcement really seem to focus on the hard stuff mostly and they seize an awful lot of it. They seize more marijuana, but more marijuana is consumed in this country than all other illegal drugs combined so there is a whole lot more of it out there to be seized. For these Mexican drug trafficking organizations, marijuana is their cash cow. It’s how they derive most of their income. Take most of their income from them and we’ll see a corresponding decrease in the number of people involved with the illegal drug trade and the death toll. These organizations will be smaller, less powerful, and easier for governments to contain.