You may recall that we first addressed decriminalization of medical marijuana here at legal blog back in May (Smoke ‘em If You Got ‘em…).  Since then, marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco for injury victims and other patients with a prescription or “recommendation” for the herb have sprouted up all over town.

And San Francisco is not alone – San Jose and San Diego have more than you can shake a Thai-stick at.  And in Los Angeles it has been rumored that there are more pot dispensaries than Starbucks.

Decriminalization measures seems to be popping up everywhere – Vermont, Virginia and Washington for starters.  Medical-marijuana legislation is also being considered in Maryland, Delaware and Wisconsin.

In my legal practice, as a personal injury attorney in San Francisco, I have seen injury victims that could only find relief from debilitating back pain by using marijuana. So I am inclined to believe in the drug’s medicinal value.

But is decriminalization all it’s cracked up to be?  The Wall Street Journal looks at it (click here) as does the Providence Journal (click here).  And according to these media sources as well as others, decriminalization advocates approach the subject from a cost-savings perspective. Their argument is much like the argument of legalization supporters – tax the sale and save money on prosecutions and jail time for possession of small amounts.

But according to the WSJ, Rhode Island’s attorney general’s office thinks the savings will not be realized because no one is in prison for possession alone and the state will lose a lesser offense that defendants can plead down to.  So, the savings may not really materialize.

The other question is how does a state tax something that is still technically illegal.  And even if you tax individual sales – how do you tax suppliers?  That is, the folks who supply the pot in large quantities to all those dispensaries, the folks that grow it, harvest it, transport it and distribute it to the retailers, which I would guess is where the big tax dollars reside.

And then there is another issue not addressed by the articles that I cited above.  How do you remove the criminal element if it’s not completely legal?  The answers is – you don’t.  If we are to have a hybrid model where it is illegal to grow it, harvest it, and transport it.  But legal to sale to folks with “recommendations” or a doctor’s note.  Then you don’t remove the criminal element at all, you only supply them with a much bigger market.

So, if cost-savings are your true motivation – legalize it, tax it, and regulate it.