More than 40 percent of all Americans over 12 have tried marijuana, and at least 30 million people smoke it every year. The most recent national drug survey found that 18.1 million Americans had used it during the previous month.

Yet, marijuana is still illegal and enforcement costs the government 13.7 billion dollars annually, and puts over 500,000 people in jail every year. Both Washington and Colorado stood up to the antiquated federal law by legalizing and taxing marijuana for the good of their own states. It's time for the federal government to follow.

The majority of Americans now favor legalizing marijuana, but four major lobby groups have fought for years to keep that from happening. The alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceutical, and private prison lobbies have donated millions to congressional and anti-marijuana campaigns in order to protect their own profits. All four of those industries would lose billions of dollars if marijuana were legalized.

Sign this petition and show President Obama that while much of Congress can be influenced by lobbyist money, we cannot. Let's send the message that it is in the best interest of our country to tax and regulate marijuana, rather than wasting billions of tax dollars by incarcerating people for it.

Sources below:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36600923/The_Cost_and_Benefit_Arguments_Around_Enforcement​

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/marijuana-legalization-in_n_1915649.html​

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/06/3168032/war-on-pot-has-gone-up-in-smoke.html