Prohibition Failed, Regulation Works.

Today, a suddenly well-funded prohibitionist movement has slithered back out from under its rock, arguing that adult-use legalization is somehow a disaster, lobbying state legislatures to limit or roll it back, and funding state ballot initiatives to end it.

Which makes this a good time to remind ourselves that the prohibitionists are lying, and that nearly a decade and a half since the first states legalized adult use, the arguments against prohibition and in favor of regulated markets haven’t changed.

Prohibition imposes massive human and financial costs on society, not to mention the abject injustice of arresting millions of Americans for a victimless “crime”.

Illicit markets operate with no age gating, making it easier for teens to access cannabis, while age-gated regulation makes youth access more difficult and will drive teen use down. 

The lack of regulation and testing in the illicit market makes cannabis less safe for consumers.

Instead of wasting taxpayer money in a futile attempt to enforce unenforceable laws, states could be reaping billions of dollars in new revenues to fix roads, support schools, pay for drug treatment, and yes, even fund law enforcement.

A legal cannabis market creates jobs and opportunities, while prohibition creates criminals.

Growing, obtaining, or using a plant that humans have used safely — medically, spiritually, and for pleasure — for thousands of years is an abuse of government authority and an affront to personal liberty.

This year, we face the prospect of more state legislation seeking to limit or roll back adult-use legalization, as well as the first coordinated multi-state ballot initiative effort to re-criminalize adult-use sales in Arizona and Massachusetts this November, and an effort to put the same prohibitionist initiative on Maine’s ballot in 2027. So now is a good time to remind ourselves, and everyone, how right we’ve always been, and the progress that the prohibitionists are putting at risk.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, since 2012, when the first states began legalizing and regulating adult-use sales, past month cannabis use by 8th graders is down by 44%, 10th graders down by 46%, and 12th graders down by 24%.

According to the Monitoring the Future survey, between 2012 and 2024, the number of U.S. teens saying that cannabis is “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get has dropped by 31%, from 39 out of 100 saying “fairly or very easy” to 24 out of 100.

Cannabis arrests in states that have legalized adult-use are down an average of 89%, and nationally, cannabis arrests are down from more than 800,000 per year to just over 200,000.

States have collected more than $25 billion in cannabis tax revenues since the first adult-use markets launched. These funds have helped to fix roads, support schools, pay for drug treatment, and yes, even fund law enforcement.

As of early 2025, the legal cannabis industry was estimated to be providing 425,000 legal jobs across more than 20,000 licensed businesses. And that doesn’t include thousands of non-plant touching businesses.

Today, more than half of U.S. citizens have access to safe, legal, regulated cannabis without fear of arrest and imprisonment, and nearly half of Americans can legally grow cannabis on their property without fear of losing their homes, or their children, or their freedom.

Turns out that we were right the whole time. Regulation works. 

Just remember that the next time some prohibitionist comes into your state and tries to take your freedom away by arguing otherwise.

Adam J. Smith
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project