class=p1Currently more than 30 percent of the U.S. population lives in a place where some type of marijuana decriminalization is the law. According to the federal government, this policy has had virtually no effect on either the marijuana use or on the related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among young people. Since the 1970s, more than a dozen government appointed committees, in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia as well as in other countries, have issued recommendations regarding marijuana policy. These include the Shafer Commission, appointed by former President Richard Nixon, Canada's Le Dain Commission, and Britain's Wooten Report, all of which concluded that marijuana prohibition causes far more social damage than marijuana use, and the possession of marijuana for personal use should no longer be a criminal offense. - Paul Armentano - NORML
