Reply #20: Right, there is no cost or penalty involved in marijuana prohibition.

[DefenseLawyer]

You can continue to carry water for the drug warriors, that's your prerogative; but your argument that marijuana prohibition is a good thing, with no social costs, because first time offenders don't get long prison sentences misses the mark. Most first time offenders are arrested and they do go to jail. Most are not sentenced to prison, but they do go to jail. Most first time offenders face a year or more of strict probation, with random drug testing and court ordered "rehab" which ends up costing the offender hundreds of dollars or in the case of the indigent, costing you and me hundreds of dollars. In many states a marijuana conviction of any kind results in an automatic driver's license suspension. A conviction also bars the offender from receiving any kind of federal financial aid for college. These costs are very real and that doesn't even take into account the cost for all the additional courtrooms jail space and the salaries for judges, court staff, prosecutors, public defenders, bailiffs law enforcement and probation officers. We have a truly massive infrastructure of cops, courts, probation services and rehab that costs billions of dollars, and for what? Because an adult chose to smoke a joint instead of drinking a beer. The drug war is a failure at every level.