The drug cartels and criminals are the ones benefiting the MOST from America's so-called "war on drugs." They profit greatly from prohibition and our government shares in the profits, then continues to lie to people about the drugs. Yes, many drugs are dangerous, addictive and bad for people. But people are going to take the drugs regardless, so it seems to me that it would make better sense to legalize them - as Portugal has done, for example - and spend the money on treatment and education rather than this "war" - killing, arrests, mass incarceration that is flooding our prisons with people who might still be able to live a good life if they had a chance! In Portugal, after ten years of ALL drugs being legal - drug use and crime are both going down. There are studies done about this. America should take note, and many of us (individuals) have - but not our leaders. They stand behind their rhetoric and continue on with the insane idea that policies which have never worked in the past, might somehow work in the future.

I am optimistic that we may at least see marijuana legalized within the next 5 or 10 years. But even this small step has taken an unimaginable amount of work from thousands of volunteers who have put their lives, reputations and everything on the line to stand up for the truth. And marijuana is really not even a "drug" - it is just an herb. A healing herb which modern studies reveal, is very helpful for illness, pain, even treatment of terminal illnesses such as cancer. But our ancestors already knew this thousands of years ago!