Hunting down and arresting marijuana consumers means less time, effort, and energy devoted to protecting society from violent crime. The tens of millions of American marijuana consumers, whether or not they are ever arrested, are technically criminals. This arbitrary criminalization results in a large-scale lack of respect for the entire criminal justice system. Probably because marijuana is not physically addictive, there is no evidence that marijuana consumers typically commit predatory crimes for drug money as do many hard drug abusers. Some consumers frequently sell small qualities to cover their own costs.
Prohibition breeds corruption at every level of the criminal justice system.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials, lawyers, prison officials, and even judges are convicted every year of accepting bribes, stealing drugs, selling drugs, planting evidence, and other dishonest and violent acts directly stemming from their close connections to the drug trade. Because of the inherent difficulty of catching and convicting corrupt members of the criminal justice system, those who are convicted drastically under represent the number actually guilty.