People say this. Steve Yegge wrote a whole blog entry about it in 2009[1]. It's supposed to be so difficult to legalise something, but really it's not legalising it which is difficult but half-legalising it which is. Let's take Steve's blog questions:

> Is it legal to drink alcohol in a TV commercial? No? OK, what about marijuana, then? Can you smoke it in a commercial? Can you SHOW it? Can you talk about it? Can you show marijuana smoke at a party, without anyone actually being seen smoking it? Can you recommend its use to children under the age of 9? What exactly are the laws going to be around advertising and marijuana?

None. Why should there be? Done.

> Do we let everyone out of prison who was incarcerated for possession and/or sale of marijuana? If not, then what do we tell them when they start rioting? If so, what do we do with them? Do we subsidize halfway houses? Do we give them their pot back? How much pot, exactly, do they need to have possessed in order to effect their judicial reversal and subsequent amnesty? A bud? An ounce? A cargo ship full?

Release them. They broke the (unjust) law as it then stood, so they don't get reparations. Done.

> Is it legal to sell, or just possess? If the latter, then how do we integrate the illegality of selling it into the advertising campaigns that tell us it's legal to own it?

Of course it's legal to sell. What business of the State is it if one citizen wishes to sell something to another citizen? Done.

> If it's legal to sell it, WHO can sell it? Who can they sell it to? Where can they sell it? Where can they purchase it? Are we simply going to relax all the border laws, all the policies, all the local, state and federal laws and statutes that govern how we prioritize policing it? All at once? Is there a grandfather clause? On what _exact_ date, GMT, does it become legal, and what happens to pending litigation at that time?

Anyone can sell it, starting at midnight. All charges for selling it are dismissed at the same time (c.f. re. prisoners, supra). Done.

> Are we going to license it? Like state alcohol liquor licenses, of which there are a fixed number? What department does the licensing? How do you regulate it? Who inspects the premises looking for license violations, and how often? What, exactly, are they looking for?

Why license the sale of something? If someone wants to sell something, and someone wants to buy it, why interfere? If someone says he is selling marijuana, and is actually selling oregano, that sounds like fraud to me: there are civil and criminal courts which can then be involved. Done.

> Is it OK to smoke marijuana at home? At work? In a restaurant? In a designated Pot Bar? On the street? Can you pull out a seventeen-foot-long water bong and take a big hit in the middle of a shopping mall, and ask everyone near you to take a hit with you, since it's totally awesome skunkweed that you, like, can't get in the local vending machine? If it's not OK, then why not?

What business of the State is it if you wish to permit smoking in your home or business, or on your property? On public property, why would not the laws against assaulting people in general not apply? Done.

> Can you drive when you're stoned? What's the legal blood-THC level? Is it state-regulated or federal-regulated? For that matter, what is the jurisdiction for ALL marijuana-related laws? Can states override federal rulings? Provinces? Counties? Cities? Homeowners associations?

This is the only even slightly bothersome part. Fortunately, we have a system for determining whether someone is guilty of driving intoxicated: it's called a jury trial. Done.

> What exactly is the Coast Guard supposed to do now? Can illegal drug smugglers just land and start selling on the docks? Are consumers supposed to buy their marijuana on the street? What happens to the existing supply-chain operations? How are they taxed? Who oversees it?

The DEA and friends can get honest jobs. Why would marijuana be taxed any differently from anything else? Done.

> Can you smoke marijuana on airplanes? Can airplanes offer it to their customers in-flight? Is it regulated in-flight more like tobacco (don't get the smoke in other peoples' faces) or alcohol (imbibe as you will, as long as you don't "appear intoxicated"?) What about marijuana brownies? Are you allowed to eat it in areas where you're not allowed to smoke it?

If a private business wishes to permit its customers to consume something on its premises, why does the State have to get involved? Done.

> Can an airplane captain smoke pot? A ship captain? A train conductor? The driver of a car? An attendee at a Broadway musical? A politician in a legislative session? What is the comprehensive list of occupations, positions and scenarios in which smoking pot is legal? What about eating pot? What about holding it? What about holding a pot plant? What about the seeds?

This is just the intoxication question again, and again there is already a system in place. Done.

> Speaking of the seeds, are there different laws governing distribution, sale and possession of seeds vs. plants vs. buds vs. joints? If so, why? If not, why not?

Why should there be? Get out of the petty-tyranny business and get on with life. Done.

> What laws govern the transportation of marijuana in any form into or out of countries where it is still illegal? What policies are states able to enact? Is it OK under any circumstances for a person to go to jail over the possession or use of marijuana? If so, what are those circumstances?

What business of a State are another State's laws? Why should marijuana be any different from any other intoxicating substance at all? Done.

> Are there any laws governing the use of marijuana by atheletes? U.S. military personnel? Government employees? Government contractors? U.S. ambassadors, in title or in spirit? What are our extradition laws? What do we do about citizens who are subject to the death penalty in countries like Singapore for the possession of sufficient quantities of what we now consider to be legal substances?

Why would the State care about what athletes or other citizens do? Why wouldn't rules already in place, which boil down to 'don't make us look bad,' not apply?

As for citizens being held by other countries: imprisonment or execution of a citizen for an act not criminal in his own country may invite invasion. 'Civi Romani sum.' Done.

> What about derivatives? Are the laws the same for hashish? How do we tell the difference? What if someone engineers a super-powerful plant? How do the new laws extend to a potential spectrum of new drugs similar to THC?

Why does the State have to grasp for every bit of power? Just let it go! Done.

> For driving and operating machinery, do we have legal definitions that are equivalent of blood-alcohol percentage, and if so, what are these definitions? How do we establish them? How do we figure out what is actually dangerous? How do we test for these levels? When they are established, do we we put up signs on all roadways? Do we update the Driver's Education materials? How do we communicate this change to the public?

This is the same intoxication question, again. For the third time: done.

> How does legalization impact our public health education programs? Do they have to immediately retract all campaigning, advertising and distributed literature that mentions marijuana? How does legalization interact with the "Say no to drugs" programs? Do we need extra education to differentiate between a drug that is now legal (but wasn't before) and drugs that are still illegal? What's our story here? What about other drugs that are even less addictive and/or less intrusive than marijuana?

If it's harmful, what is the problem in continuing to say it's harmful? If it's not, why was public health education lying? This is a non-objection. Done.

> Monsanto is eventually going to sue the living shit out of someone for using genetically-engineered pot seeds. Can they sue individuals with a single plant in their windowsill? (answer: yes) Will Oprah step in and help that beleaguered individual? (answer: we'll see!)

Why should it be any different than any other seed. Done.

Yes, it's hard to retain some control while giving up some control. Why do that? It's really not that big a deal, if a State is willing to be an adult and to treat its citizens like adults (and as for children: it's their parents' job to see that they behave according to their parents' desires, not the State's, according to its own). Just let go!

[1] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legali...