Common sense should dictate here. If an individual who is terminally ill or an individual who is forced to address chronic pain management issues derives any comfort whatsoever from pot, regardless of whether it is real or perceived, let them have it and let them have it legally. I view pot as a coping tool. I don't smoke pot and never have but if you want to, you should be allowed to do so in my humble opinion. Victimless crime not so dissimilar from prostitution.
I believe there to exist considerable merit to what D muscipula stated, “In fact, i expect it will be much cheaper (both in terms of lives and in terms of money) to legalize it because it can then be taxed and regulated, much like cigarettes.” To this I would like to add that I find it absolutely ridiculous what we are paying to incarcerate repeated and habitual recreational users of pot.
Pot is not so dissimilar from Corn Gluten Meal. I truly believe there to exist a considerable amount of validitiy to this statement by swords, “Seriously though, Marijuana will NEVER be considered a legitimate drug. This is because to be a legitimate medicine that is of value to the drug companies (which means it is able to be patented) it must be at least 30% man made chemicals with rigid ability to control the quality.” This, and this alone may be the root of why pot is not and may not be legalized any time in the foreseeable future.