Marijuana Legalization Discussion Board

The War on Drugs began in the early 1970s and has been raging ever since. While we know that it has been a terrible failure, we have continued to criminalize and increase policies that have helped fuel a prison population. Recently, states have made efforts to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, but marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Discuss why policies have been enacted and have failed to address the problem of addiction, and what policies might help alleviate the issues associated with the war on drugs. How does reforming the criminal justice system (police, courts, and corrections) offer possible solutions to this problem?