>The US does have some interesting laws about recreational inhalation or imbibing. FWIW, elsewhere in the western world teenagers can't buy booze, but at restaurants or social occasions with parents they can drink alcohol without being furtive about it. The US 20-year thing is unusually strict.
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>A similar age limitation for weed can be justified because weed (like alcohol) can have an effect on young brains, as well as the usual risks of smoking.

Yes I agree. It should be regulated like alcohol- there should be age limits, and there should be testing on the product to determine how strong it is.

>But the reality is that people who want to drink will drink and people who want to smoke weed, will smoke weed. Police forces in many university towns mostly turn a blind eye because there's no point sweating the small stuff and because they realize that Prohibition empowers criminals and creates exposure to harder drugs.

While some police will just toss a joint in the trash if they find it on someone, many (and by many, I mean most) will not. Just take a look at the arrest numbers in the USA for simple possession of weed. I think it was like 800,000 last year? I know it was over a million in 2010. Just imagine all the costs of that from a financial perspective.

>Legalizing weed is a good way to ensure that the law is not an ass. Smokers already are segregated from non-smokers in public places so those who disapprove, are unlikely to experience much of a difference. Meanwhile the taxmen are rubbing their hands with glee. ;-)

It also a good way to take the money out of the drug cartels hands. I think Mexico would appreciate that. Anytime you have an illegal business worth a few billion dollars moving around - people are going to die.