The war on drugs was started in 1969 by then President Richard Nixon. I think it’s fair to say that after 40 years, the war has been lost.

History has again repeated itself as we all know that prohibition does not work. This battle has been extremely expensive. Not only with the costs of catching those that buy and sell illegal drugs, prosecuting them and boarding them in our prison systems, but many young lives have been damaged or ruined in this so called war.

According to the War on Drugs Clock, over 13 billion dollars has been spent by the federal government so far this year fighting this battle and this does not take into account the lost revenue of not being able to collect taxes on these drugs. With marijuana consumption being no more harmful than that of alcohol or tobacco, these costs are outrageous when you consider a large amount of them relate directly to enforcing current marijuana laws.

With the state of our economy and the painfully obvious fact that drug enforcement efforts have been a tremendous failure, it’s time that congress start an open and honest debate on the legalization of marijuana. I’m sure if we take a close look, with an open mind, it will reveal what should have been done a long time ago. Marijuana use should not only be legal, but farmers should be allowed to grow it and government should tax it.