"Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good," says George Soros in The Wall Street Journal. Law enforcement agencies spend many billions of taxpayer dollars every year trying to enforce our "unenforceable" prohibition of pot. Police make nearly 750,000 arrests each year for small-time possession. A drug arrest record does more damage to a young person's future than an occasional joint. In fact, the only people who seem to benefit from the criminalization of marijuana are drug traffickers, who make billions every year off "the illicit trade." That is why California's Proposition 19, which would legalize recreational marijuana use, is a good first step toward a smarter U.S. drug policy. Here, an excerpt:
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually. It also would reduce the crime, violence, and corruption associated with drug markets, and the violations of civil liberties and human rights that occur when large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens are subject to arrest. Police could focus on serious crime instead...
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.