99.6 people arrested an hour for marijuana usage in 2007

New FBI figures show that a record 873,000 people were arrested for marijuana-related "crimes" in 2007, which was a 5 percent increase over 2006.

Before I continue, I feel that critics should know that I do not use marijuana, have never used it habitually, and have not touched it for more than three years. Nevertheless, I support legalization of marijuana for many reasons:

1. Marijuana does not do demonstrably more harm than alcohol or cigarettes.
   
2. Marijuana laws were originally created to oppress Mexicans, and current enforcement of marijuana laws tend to disproportionally target blacks.
   
3. We are throwing our money away on the War on Pot, to the tune of at least $35 billion per year.
   
4. The government can tax legal marijuana and make billions of dollars off it. Why not use it to partially fund a universal health care program?
   

Like so many reforms, the will of the people is already behind this. All that remain to keep marijuana illegal are the two major parties, who want to arrest nearly a million people a year for possessing something that grows out of the ground.