Many people get ground in the gears of the criminal justice system in the U.S. with charges of marijuana possession. In my state, sharing with a friend can get

Many people get ground in the gears of the criminal justice system in the U.S. with charges of marijuana possession. In my state, sharing with a friend can get you hit with a possession with intent to sell or deliver charge, which is a felony. A felony conviction almost guarantees you'll do time. You will go to jail. You will probably lose your job and have trouble getting a new one. Life changes in significant ways. But in jail, you will have met people, and those people may have opportunities for you. Some people decide that since they already have a criminal record after that first conviction, they might as well take risks to get by. Let me be clear about this. I'm not saying marijuana criminalizes people. I'm saying outlawing marijuana criminalizes people. And it's easy for me to believe that legalizing marijuana is likely to result in an overall fall in the rates of incidence of other types of crime.