On Monday, the Department of Justice issued a memo directing US attorneys to avoid prosecuting “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana”. For the 13 states with medical marijuana laws, this is a great step by the federal government to respect states' rights, but for those without such laws this should open the discussion.
In Virginia, we incarcerate people at a rate 9% higher than the already bloated national average, and as a result of this our taxpayers paid 12% more to keep these people incarcerated. We also have far fewer parolees and probationers compared to the rest of the nation. Instead of keeping all these people locked up, we should seek to save taxpayer money by not imprisoning nonviolent, otherwise law-abiding drug offenders. Furthermore, we should be talking about generating revenue for the state not by enforcing the senseless policies of prohibition, which 3 out of 4 Americans believe have failed, but by enacting sensible policies of regulation and taxation.
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