Marijuana, which is still placed in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms by the federal government, is no more dangerous than alcohol, President Barack Obama said in an interview published Sunday. “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” Obama told New Yorker editor David Remnick. (CNN, January 19, 2014)

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Mr. President, I agree, and I ask you to add action to your words. For those indignant readers who will blast this personal commentary, I simply request: please restrain yourselves. Think through the arguments from both the personal side and the economic side.

Here goes.

Fact. A person caught possessing any amount of marijuana by a federal law enforcement officer may be arrested, penalized, maybe incarcerated, and may well end up with a criminal record.

Fact. A cancer patient who wants to ease the pain with a marijuana cigarette violates federal laws and, in many instances, state laws, though the federal government no longer pursues the prosecution of patients in those states where medical marijuana has been made legal. That person probably also pays an exorbitant amount for an uncertain quantity and quality of material in order to relieve the discomfort of the disease.

Fact. Lighting a joint at a recreational event is fraught with risks. In most states, marijuana can be obtained only from illegal vendors, and the distribution system linking growers and vendors violates the law nearly everywhere. Consuming marijuana at home with or without a doctor's prescription also remains a criminal act in much of the country.

Marijuana production and consumption in the US is fraught with violent crime, high prices, and high insurance premiums to insure property against theft and malice. Huge sums are spent on law enforcement and incarceration. I personally know of cases of incarceration, probation and government costs incurred in policing younger offenders who if apprehended today would not be guilty of any crime. And there are companies that service prisons and operate them and are paid by inmate headcount. They have a vested interest in preserving an antiquated system that punishes younger offenders and turns a high percentage of them into prison-"educated" criminals. These companies profit enormously at the expense of the whole society.

It is time to change this.

The president has allowed us to launch a national debate and policy discussion. The legalization of marijuana is a controversial subject for some of us. For me the course is clear, since my personal life experiences have spanned all of the above, either directly or indirectly.

Think about the fact that we now have a pot amnesty box in an airport (Colorado Springs).

Think about the fact that 20 states now permit medicinal use of marijuana for relief of pain. I know folks who obtain pain relief for cancer or other causes of chronic pain.

Think about the fact that we now have two states that allow recreational marijuana used in a regulated environment with licensed vendors – and with the expectation of generating a revenue base to support the states. This list is only destined to grow.

Think about the fact that the law enforcement agencies in those two states now regard marijuana in the same way, or nearly the same way, that we do when we talk about people drinking beer, wine, or whiskey. Imagine the savings in municipal and state budgets when the decriminalization of marijuana greatly reduces law enforcement, judicial, and incarceration costs.

Think about all of these things. Then wonder whether the criminal justice system doesn't need to change throughout the US.

Changing it requires legislation, yet we all know that our national (and most state) lawmakers are the last to change. They are not motivated by forward-looking strategies or plans. They only count the votes. Our governance is a mostly failed enterprise that responds only when citizens get sufficiently enraged to threaten lawmakers' re-election and throw the bums out.

There is another option, but it requires leadership. Leaders like presidents or governors can alter the debate. And they have one power that cannot be diminished by legislators, and that is regularly used as they conclude their terms.

That power is the pardon.

It allows a criminal record that was established years ago in a different social paradigm to be expunged. It can reduce the costs of cities and states for the incarceration of marijuana offenders. It can reduce or eliminate the parole and probation periods of those who were convicted of minor marijuana offenses.

The President of the United States can follow up his statements on marijuana by convening a national dialogue and proposing rational legislation. He could set up a screening committee to survey all the records and cases and come up with a sensible policy mix. Governors can do the same in their states. We Americans are moving towards a society that has accepted the reality of marijuana use and decriminalized it. When you decriminalize pot smoking, you can clean the house of former pot smokers who were convicted of a crime and carry the burden of that conviction.

Think about what it would mean if the costs of fighting the losing battle against marijuana were eliminated. Jail and prison maintenance costs would fall. Hiring would improve, because individuals’ records would not show misdemeanor or felony convictions for possession of marijuana. There is a massive economic opportunity for leadership at the executive level in our government. All it takes is a willingness to act.

This is my personal view, written after a lot of thought about whether to publish it. There is no pot ETF. There may be a Mari-Muni revenue bond in the future but none exists right now. Marijuana is not an issue that involves decisions to buy, sell, or hold ETFs or municipal bonds; it is an issue I am addressing in a public way as a result of a series of personal experiences. Those experiences span decades of observations about marijuana, how it has been used, where it has been used, and what the results have been.

The consequences list I compiled in the beginning of this commentary ranges from death to a slap on the wrist. I have also summarized attitudinal and legal changes regarding marijuana usage during the last half century. I have personal exposure to that entire gamut of experience, and so I have felt it necessary to speak up.

It is time for a national debate about the decriminalization of marijuana. And it is time to repair a lot of younger lives. It is also time to improve our state and local economies. Like tobacco and alcohol, this change will happen over time anyway. With leadership at the executive level of government, this change can happen quickly.