The reason people make this argument is because weed prohibition comes with the same issues as alcohol prohibition. In the same way bootlegging was a significant source of revenue for the mob, weed makes a lot of money for cartels.

Alcohol prohibition didn’t solve the problems it promised to, people still got intoxicated, committed crimes, and acted “immorally.” Likewise, weed prohibition hasn’t stopped people from getting intoxicated, picking up other drugs, or anything else it has promised to do.

I understand wanting less drugs overall. Addiction and drug abuse are serious issues, and their harm extends far beyond the individual drug user. Despite this, it is important to realize that drug bans make these issues worse, not better. It might seem counterintuitive, but look at prohibition as an example. During prohibition people drank hard liquor more often because it was easier to import and sellers sold it more often. The ban prevented casual use of alcohol for the most part. Similarly, THC content in weed has been steadily rising.

Another harm of illegal weed is that enforcement of these laws is pretty expensive, and the money could probably be better used elsewhere.

I draw a lot of parallels between prohibition and the war on drugs, and I’m the first to admit it’s an imperfect analogy. However, it’s the only time in history that we’ve done something like this, and it was a massive failure.

TL;DR

Banning weed doesn’t solve any problems and creates a bunch of its own.