Did none of you registered California voters out there read your voter pamphlets yet?

Proposition 5 in the November 2008 California elections reduces possession of less than an ounce of marijuana to an infraction, like a traffic ticket, instead of a misdemeanor. It also diverts non-violent drug offenders out of prison and into drug treatment programs.

The net fiscal effect is projected to be positive with a cost of about $1 billion to set up more drug treatment facilities that is offset by the $1 billion saved by not incarcerating all of these people.

Read it for yourself: California Proposition 5 (200 - Ballotpedia

I think it's a step in the right direction, less money spent to imprison stoners, even if it means more money wasted to attempt to educate them.