Originally Posted by SpongeBub

Whenever you talk about decriminalizing drugs (or even pot), you have to remember that there are huge bureaucracies in the US that will never allow this to happen. For starters, you have the DEA, which emplys thousands of people and has a huge lobbying presence in DC. They are not going to give up one iota of their power without a helluva fight. Hey, these guys have a TV show on Spike that they have to keep going!

Then there is the most scary of all, for-profit prisons. A deep-pocket industry who's sole purpose for existing is keeping lots of people in jail to keep lots of money rolling in. They lobby the hell out of congress and will work hard to make sure that even simple possession is not decriminalized. How else are they going to keep those cells full of paying customers?