Guy in his 20s, charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, was entering into a diversion agreement. If he stayed out of trouble for a year, followed other terms, there’d be no conviction. His Honor held the agreement up & asked the guy how much that was worth. 1/7

The guy, politely, said “I don’t know, sir.” His Honor said, “One Million Dollars” & explained how a criminal conviction, even for a misdemeanor, could block things in the future: student loans, enlistment in the military, and other things. 2/7

I have not run the numbers, but I’d say, over the life of a person, in her/his 20s, mortality tables as they are, His Honor was in the ballpark. I have to ask, how much does our “war on drugs” cost us as a society? People on booze cause more bedlam than people stoned. 3/7

In a land “that’s known as freedom” the burden should be on government to justify laws that jail people who possess a plant. Unless something is intrinsically wrong, e.g., outright murder of a human being, that thing should be legal. 4/7

A premise for the war on drugs is that government should protect us against ourselves. But laws against drugs cause greater harms than the drugs themselves. Convictions mean people can’t get jobs. That hurts our economy. 5/7

Usually if one uses cost-benefit analysis in regard to a liberty interest, liberty interests lose, but I realized the economic sense of legalization when His Honor said that about $1 million. Add to that costs of enforcement and of imprisonment. 6/7

People drink alcohol or smoke pot or take weekend “trips” on substances without harm to others. Driving deaths are real, but driving is the culprit, not intoxication. Remember, Washington and Jefferson smoked pot. Original intent would indicate legalization. 7/7