1. Less people smoke weed. Tends to cut abuse down and decrease the number of users. Look at Portugal, which had a huge heroin epidemic, legalized drugs (a bit extreme), but then saw their heroin epidemic virtually disappear (See here.).

2. Also makes it more inaccessible to minors- think of high school- it was easier to buy weed then it was to buy alcohol, because alcohol was regulated and you needed an ID, but for weed, you just need to know a guy.

3. Cannabis is often a gateway drug because those who do it are more likely to be willing to break other laws already. Legalizing it and regulating it and making it safe takes away this dangerous aspect- including people buying something off the street that could not be what is advertised.

4. Cuts down on school-to-prison pipeline.

5. Saves state/fed gov $$ currently spent on incarcerating nonviolent offenders.

6. Eliminating mandatory jail time and instituting rehabilitation counseling services instead could curb and significantly help the untreated, esp poor, with mental illness.

7. Low-income and racial minorities are disproportionately exposed to drugs, targeted by these laws for historical reasons, and way more likely to be incarcerated for it, so it cuts down on the criminalization of minority youth & adults.

8. Hurts the alcohol and tobacco lobby.

9. Could be used as a safer, better alternative to the extremely dangerous opiates and barbiturates which the pharmaceutical industry has decided to prescribe a disturbing number of Americans, which leads to serious addiction. Could also cut down on amphetamine use and other expensive medications. Would also most likely cut down on alcohol and tobacco use for many, both of which cause millions of deaths per year.

10. The effects and medical benefits of the plant could be properly studied- which could have tremendous consequences for a plenitude of diseases. It is absurd this has not happened.

11. Hemp is an incredible plant AND fuel which is biodegradable, more durable, and could easily replace paper and plastic as a better alternative.

12. It grows on God's Earth. So... let's criminalize bad behavior, not the existence of nature.

13. I believe in bodily autonomy and that the state should not have the right to regulate what I personally do to my own body which does not harm any external personages. The state also has a very economically expedient and Eurocentric definition of 'drug'.

14. The U.S. War on Drugs and that ideology's policy work abroad, including destabilizing work of the CIA internationally, played the deciding role in creating the drug cartel crisis we currently see in Latin America. That's a long story, but long story short, LEGALIZING HURTS THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS. (See here.). Weakening the cartels could stabilize Mexico. It would also cut down on smuggling, and make the border safer.

15. Saves so, so, so many tax dollars wasted on enforcement and a virtually failed policy, and could save so many human lives in the process.