About the smoking it in public: I think anti-smoking rules would be extended to marijuana.

As far as legalizing it in general: There are way too many people in prison for marijuana-related crimes. Marijuana is a gateway drug all right...a gateway to becoming a more hardened criminal while doing time for it.

I know first hand of someone who was on chemo who used it for medicinal purposes: I don't give a rat's behind if it's placebo effect or not. It clearly helped her get through with minimal nausea and loss of appetite.

I'm kind of dancing around the question; I think the pros for legalizing and regulating it slightly outweigh the cons.