[420 Girl]

Marijuana should be legalized in the United States, some say.

The harmless plant is not addictive, its illegal distribution sparks a bloody, failed drug war, and taxing it would stimulate the economy, a former law enforcement officer said.

Terry Nelson is a 60-year-old former law enforcement officer. He worked for the U.S. Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security.

Today he's a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of retired police, prosecutors and judges who think all narcotics should be legalized and regulated.

"Scientifically, it's proven marijuana is not addictive," Nelson said. "Yet, addictive drugs like nicotine and alcohol are sold legally."

Nelson spoke from his cell phone outside of El Paso. Across the river there, a bloody Juarez battle between warring drug cartels killed thousands of gang members and innocents last year.

"Until you remove the criminal element, you can't get control of the violence," he said. "We've got to stop the crime and violence associated with it. It's killing people all over the world."

By legalizing and regulating marijuana, drug cartels and violence would wither. You don't see Coors and Anheuser Busch fighting with machine guns in the streets of Golden, Colo., he said

Tim Felger is a former U.S. military member who moved to Canada. He's organizing the 2009 Worldwide Marijuana March, a civic movement Saturday aimed at legalizing marijuana.

"When you take drugs off the market, you get an increase in crime and violence," Felger said.

By giving Americans free choice, the U.S. government could also use the billions of dollars, spent each year in fighting drug use and jailing offenders, for better purposes.

"By legalizing and taxing marijuana you could bring in an estimated $6 billion to $7 billion a year," Nelson said. "That doesn't include the savings you would have from the cost of jailing offenders and not having to fight the drug war."

More than 800,000 people a year are arrested and imprisoned for smoking a plant that's never killed the user, he added.

"When we don't control and regulate a commodity people want, some other group will fill that void," Nelson said. "We know these drugs are going to be used. Let's regulate it. We're not going to arrest our way out of the drug war."

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