The issues are Complicated, but the answers are Simple

The issues around marijuana may seem complicated, but the bottom line is simple: 

• We know from analysis at RAND that legalization would cause the price of marijuana to fall and its use woould rise, especially among youth.
   
• With more users, we will see more addiction. Marijuana addiction is real and affects about 1 in 9 people who ever start using the drug (a number similar to alcohol). If one starts in adolescence, that number jumps to 1 in 6 users.
   
• If you care about educational outcomes, you need to oppose legalization because marijuana use reduces learning and memory, increases drop-out rates and lower grades.
   
• If you care about economic competitiveness and jobs, you need to oppose legalization because employers will not hire those who test positive for drug use.
   
• If you care about safe roads, you need to oppose legalization because smoking marijuana doubles a user’s risk of having an accident.
   
• Taxes on marijuana would never pay for the increased social costs that would result from more users. Our experience with alcohol and tobacco shows that for every dollar gained in taxes, we spent $10 in social costs.
   
• Legalization would jeopardize our ability to get Federal funds, because of drug-free workplace requirements and the fact that marijuana is against Federal law.
   
• Our experience with even tightly regulated prescription drugs, such as OxyCotin, shows that legalizing drugs widens availability and misuse, even when controls are in place.
   
• Legalization would not curb violence.  Marijuana accounts for only a portion of the proceeds gained by criminal organizations that profit from drug distribution, human trafficking, and other crimes, so legalizing marijuana would not deter these groups from continuing to operate.
   
• Legalization wouldn’t even reduce the burden of the criminal justice system. Today, alcohol ~ which is legal- is the cause of over 2.6 million arrests a year.  That is a million more arrests than for all illegal drugs combined.
   
• In places that have experimented with quasi-legalization, marijuana use and associated problems have skyrocketed.  That is why the Netherlands, the U.K., and other countries, after experiencing a wave of increased use, are now reversing their policies.