The weakening campaign against marijuana began in 1972 when Richard Nixon announced his War on Drugs. Since his declaration forty-three years ago, the U.S. government has spent over $1 trillion fighting illegal drugs to no end.

This wasteful crusade needs to end, and in its place we must implore our nation to legalize marijuana. The U.S. government should seek to legalize the drug for recreational use (to those 21 and older) because it will decrease taxes needed for law enforcement and provide a safer alternative than being under the influence of alcohol or resorting to any number of more dangerous drugs. Washington and Colorado began to pave the way back in 2012, followed by Alaska and Oregon in 2014 as well as the District of Columbia passing legislature to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts this previous February.

The number of marijuana users in the U.S. has remained stagnant over a 40 time period from the ‘70s until now, whereas the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on combating drugs has increased tremendously over the exact same time period.

Specifically, billions are being spent on keeping individuals locked up on marijuana-related charges. Our nation as a whole spends $68 billion a year on its prisoners, one-third of which are imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes. About half of these criminals are marijuana offenders, which means one-sixth of our country’s prisoners are in jail for marijuana-related charges. Legalizing marijuana would equate to spending $11.3 billion less a year on prisons, which is $11.3 billion back in our wallets.

Additionally, legalizing recreational marijuana would allow the government to tax the substance and thus generate millions of dollars in tax revenue. In January 2014 the state of Colorado pulled in $2 million in that month alone.

According to a report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in May 2011, the investigative arm of Congress concluded that the State Department “does not evaluate the overall success of its counter-narcotics program” and has no tangible data supporting that the influx of spending to fight drug usage has resulted in any progress. The now trillion dollars spent on this fight are draining taxpayers’ wallets and patience, but legalizing marijuana can put an end to all of that.

In terms of safety, marijuana is not physically addictive, and it poses less of a psychologically addictive risk than overindulging in a substance such as French fries. The abuse of food ingestion can lead to fatalities such as heart disease, cancer and stroke, whereas there have never been any reports of a marijuana-related death in this country or in any nation around the world.

Bottom Line: Marijuana is neither a physically harmful nor a psychologically addictive substance and it’s legalization in the U.S. will put money back into the wallets of American taxpayers and offer a relatively safer option for recreational indulgence than a substance like alcohol.