The only reason criminality is associated with pot is because there is MONEY in it.
Like prostitution, put it underground and all of a sudden we have teenage girls being forced into prostitution. How many of those girls end up in a legal brothel in Nevada?
How much crime is associated with legal pot? Right now, the only people that know how to grow pot were the ones that were doing it before hand, and were/are criminals. Given the Federal classification, they are still criminals, and only the more risk / criminally inclined are entering the grow industry. If pot were truly legal, non-criminals would be interested in the business opportunity. Saying that pot attracts crime at this point of time simply points out that the people that have been criminal pot growers in the past are still criminals now that it is a little less illegal.
Like prostitution, remove the illegality, and the criminality associated with it will also disappear. I'd even bet you'd see a decrease in people getting hooked on meth and smack, simply because it's easier for their lazy, unmotivated asses to get pot.
I guess it depends on where you want to fight the battle. The bad hombres will always have something going on to make money. If the market for dope goes away, they'll push the harder stuff, making it even more potent and addictive. If the market for 18+ prostitutes goes away, they'll traffic more and more kids.
