It cannot be legalized until they can develop some sort of roadside test similar to the breathalyzer for people who decide to get high and drive. Sure, it would generate a new avenue for taxation and mean more money for public services….but then again, so would legalizing prostitution. Smoking pot impairs your judgment and slows your reaction time…so in order to legalize it, something must be developed to test for it, that is non-invasive and fast.

Again? Marijuana has never been approved.
The thing is, it is a controlled substance and it’s controlled for a reason. Leave out the hallucinogenic aspect – anytime you inhale smoke into your lungs, you are setting the scene for cancer. The government is putting a great deal of effort into encouraging people to stop smoking – and that means smoking anything.
Yes, it could be sold through licensed outlets – at liquor and tobacco are and that would cut out some illegal operations – but there is still a clandestine market in tobacco – growers sell to private companies who process it in an uncontrolled manner and sell it on the black market for below-retail prices. So selling MJ in controlled outlets isn’t going to guarantee the purity of the product.