[John H K]

Well, you save billions of dollars used to imprison/prosecute/chase pot users, and cops have more time to pursue other crimes if they aren't chasing pot users.

And, of course, you could always tax pot sales for a financial windfall.

[Belisaurius]

Are we really spending 'billions of dollars' chasing pot users? I know we're spending 'billions of dollars' trying to criminalise tobacco, FWIW.

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

you could always tax pot sales for a financial windfall.

I used to think that as well, but since the number of pot smokers isn't going to increase when it's legalized, why bother?

And if the government has no business criminalizing pot, why would they have any business taxing it?

This line of reasoning is not associated with other banned substances. You don't hear people say "Let's legalize thalidomide and tax it heavily!"