http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/opinion/brooks-weed-been-there-done-that.html?_r=0
"So, like the vast majority of people who try drugs, we aged out. We left marijuana behind. I don’t have any problem with somebody who gets high from time to time, but I guess, on the whole, I think being stoned is not a particularly uplifting form of pleasure"
Yup - contrary to the Reefer Madness blather on this thread, they didn't turn into heroin addicts, wards of the state, or zombies standing in the rain. I think playing video games or watching reality shows or professional wrestling "is not a particularly uplifting form of pleasure" either - but that's no reason to imprison those who do, or those who supply those non-uplifting pleasures.
"I’d say that in healthy societies government wants to subtly tip the scale to favor temperate, prudent, self-governing citizenship. [...] In legalizing weed, citizens of Colorado are, indeed, enhancing individual freedom. But"
No but - individual freedom IS self-governance ... the alternative is one group of citizens governing a different group. And there's nothing "subtle" about imprisonment; if one wants to "subtly tip the scale" against pot, one will support sin taxes, warning labels, and public service messages - none of which (except, if taken to excess, the taxes) will help enrich criminals as the illegality of pot does.