This is always a tough one. First of all you have alcohol and prescription drugs that are legal yet they are highly abused and responsible for destructive behaviors and many deaths as well. I would say that maybe it should be legal only if it was highly regulated but still there would be a lot of abuse so that is the danger.
Where I live at least - the Pacific Northwest of North America - illegality has no effect on usage rates. I'm more likely to smell cannabis smoke when I'm walking down the sidewalk than tobacco smoke (which is a good change because tobacco smoke is a lot stinkier and gives me an instant headache).
The illegality of producing and distributing cannabis does encourage the growth of crime, however, and the billions of dollars in annual sales of pot - which is currently about $200/ounce, relatively cheap given the potency - produce no tax revenue to deal with the inevitable social costs that will emerge.
Drug prohibitionism is a social case of the same sort of denial that affects individuals suffering from addiction. Transparency would be better for everyone - cannabis is an established part of Western society, and it's not going away.
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More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke.
The illegality of producing and distributing cannabis does encourage the growth of crime, however, and the billions of dollars in annual sales of pot - which is currently about $200/ounce, relatively cheap given the potency - produce no tax revenue to deal with the inevitable social costs that will emerge.
Drug prohibitionism is a social case of the same sort of denial that affects individuals suffering from addiction. Transparency would be better for everyone - cannabis is an established part of Western society, and it's not going away.