Lime Green = States with Medical Marijuana
Light Green - State with decriminalized cannabis possession laws
Dark Green = State with both medical and decriminalization laws
In a vast majority of the US, Marijuana is illegal. Has the drug problem gone away now, or is it even worse?
And at the end of the day, the war on drugs is really just Prohibition under a different name. The same events are taking place, enriching the criminal element, demand is increased, more potent formulations are being invented, political corruption, violent gang activity, criminal underclass. Ludicrous profit margins are driving everything.
Prior to 1937, Marijuana was legal in the US. It was largely ignored. It was used by "low class" folk, it was not wildly popular, it wasn't the "gateway" drug it's been made out to be. Chances are your grandparents may have smoked it, and somehow society didn't come crashing down either. It didn't become popular until it was forbidden.
Just like underage drinking - when you make something "illegal" you create demand. I drank a lot in High School - because I wasn't supposed to. When I turned 21 and could legally drink, there went the fun. I don't drink now, never used drugs - simply no interest in them. However, there are areas of the cities near me that I dare not go into, for fear of my personal safety. These regions are populated by gangs, drug dealers, drug users and derelicts. If drugs were cheap, available and pure - the gangs wouldn't have a money revenue stream, the drug users would hopefully OD and we could bury that problem.
All we have to do, is look at countries who have decriminalized drugs.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html My view is fairly simple - this should be a STATE issue, and largely it is.