A key reason that Marijuana legalization passed in WA State was the support of communities of minorities, such as LGBTs, Hispanics and African Americans. These communities are sick of police discrimination, sick of ruined lives due to being arrested for normal behavior.
As Jon Stewart points out “We (waste) spend $8 billion a year, and we lock up only minorities for marijuana usage”. (And kick kids out of college into prison.)
There are many wrongs in society that are complicated to solve, and that we can’t easily change via ballot initiatives. The difference is that the wrong of illegal pot is a wrong that fixing LOWERS THE DEFICIT TWO WAYS, by causing us to both waste less in prison spending AND collect much more in tax revenue.
(And gives the police more time to stop real crime, which, yes, saves society even more money. So, there are no money arguments against this civil rights issue.)
More below on the Four Corners of the US strategy.