Ohh rest assured marijuana is widely accepted already.
Drug use has been a component in human social behavior as far back as the anthropological record indicates. People (and animals as well) will go to great lengths to attain an altered state. It is human nature to feel good, and so long as that is a hardwired component of our nature people will continue to seek out and use drugs regardless of its legality. But this is all a tangent.
What we really need to look at is whether or not there will be a significant increase as a result of a relaxation in legal status.
Study after study has shown this not to be the case:
First a few findings from Portugal's 8 year old policy of decriminalization for all drugs:
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies | Glenn Greenwald | Cato Institute: White Paper
There is plenty more in that document, an excellent read, as are the following studies:
* Many thanks to Binary Digit for building on my collection of studies, and compiling them all in one place.
http://www.debatepolitics.com/Death...ng-marijuana-good-society.html#post1058151624
So now, unless someone can provide substantial evidence to refute these studies, it is time to move on and we can discard any arguments that are rooted in the conception that drug laws serve as a significant deterrent to usage, which brings us back to this:
The question you need to be asking is how many have been harmed by the prohibition of drugs, not how many have been harmed by the drugs themselves.