because it has been illegal so long. It has a negative connotation associated with it, and the old codgers that vote equate it with shooting heroin or smoking crack. What politician wants to associate himself/herself with that? For a politician, it's just one more issue to get bashed on, and it will automatically alienate a large segment of the voting public. It's just not worth the effort or the risk for a politician in the current political climate. The war on marijuana is all about ignorance. People are smoking pot everywhere, all the time. The war on drugs is not stopping it, or even slowing it down. It is only making drug lords in foreign countries rich. Great idea: let's spend billions to attack and incarcerate our own citizens for a victimless crime. Meanwhile, those resources could be more efficiently used to stop violent crime. And in the process we'll make sure billions of dollars go over the border. Legalize it. Put a 21 year old age limit on sales and consumption. Tax the crap out of it. And put monstrous tarrifs on importation. Use the proceeds to keep the budget balanced, because we are talking about billions and billions of dollars of tax revenue. Lost. Due to ignorance and hypocrisy. In a war on ourselves. - Southwest Florida Gator