I don't know how many regulations were in place when alcohol was made illegal vs. how many were in place prior to and after it's prohibition, same as for tobacco.

But I look at it the same way - would we be better or worse off if possession and use of alcohol or tobacco in any form came with severe criminal penalties? If we would be worse off then why are we not worse off with the criminal penalties attached to marijuana?

And please don't finagle me about how "small amounts" of marijuana are already ignored or decriminalized in some states. Technically it is illegal at the state or federal level in all 50 states. Assume marijuana held the exact same legal status across the nation as alcohol or tobacco. Obviously some individuals would ruin their lives with it, same as some already ruin their lives (and the lives of their families) with alcohol or gambling or cheating on a spouse. My question is would the nation as a whole be better or worse off if marijuana had the same legal status as alcohol and tobacco?

And if the answer is that we would be much worse off, why then would we not be much better off to attach severe criminal penalties to the use and possession of a known highly addictive carcinogen and an intoxicant whose use has been responsible for more broken families, mayhem and violent behavior to even begin to list?

And once again, let me be clear about my position. I am NOT in favor of marijuana, it is an intoxicant with known or unknown possible long term deleterious effects to health.

But a known dangerous carcinogen and an extremely intoxicating substance are perfectly legal to "adults" and somehow the vast majority of Americans manage to avoid their dangerous pitfalls. If prohibition of alcohol was a horrible thing that had to be rectified then why the hypocrisy about marijuana?

Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery.
Hit the target, all else is twaddle!