legalizing mariuana

There was a guy on colbert report last night saying all the same stuff about weed that I have been saying for years. He brought up good points, many of which colbert couldn't argue with. His basic argument: America should treat weed the way it treats alcohol. We spend millions of tax dollars every year finding and putting none violent drug offenders away for years( in some cases a longer sentence than child abusers). Most of these "criminals" are none violent and weren't hurting or involving anyone else. There people who just mind there own buisness and smoke an occational joint. 40% of america now supports legalizing weed, and I say 40% is a high (lol.. high) enough number for this to be considered. Once it is legalized, we should grow it in america and tax it. Most pot heads I know would happily pay a couple bucks in taxes when (at that point) tax dollars could be put towards more realistic things. Obama, Bush, and many presidents before have all tried mariuana yet don't support its legalization (only decriminalization). In my opinion, this would be a smart move for obama considering the age group that got him elected is the main weed smoking ages.