>But for many years, you have to understand all of the money was going towards keeping it illegal cough big tobacco cough big beer.
Don't forget about Big Pharma. Also, it was Hearst and his newspaper business that circulated propaganda for decades to slander cannabis, so that his lumber business would become significant;y moar profitable, as hemp is by far a superior choice to pulp for printing paper, as well as a myriad of other applications.
Also, as someone who has been through "the system" for years, primarily because of my "use" of a substance that I knew damn well had multiple medical applications for my own body, I can honestly tell you that the state was benefiting not only from the fines generated from the prohibition of said natural substance, but they made use of "slave labor" by exploiting a loophole in the 13th Amendment that allowed people who were convicted of a "crime" to be exploited via "slave labor". What's eve moar fucked up is that courts not only don't pay "offenders" for the work they do (and I would like to point out that many of these jobs are physically taxing and/or disgusting, not to mention humiliating), often these "convicts" are CHARGED for their time when working in these "community service" "programs" ran by the city/state. VERY FUCKED UP shit. Would really like to see that EO extend to include these types of abuses, since they are rampant and the victims often have no money left to fight the case, since many have been already ass-raped by fines which further restricts one's ability to fight such petty cases in the first fucking place, since our wonderful "justice" system seems to prosecute by whether or not one can afford a proper lawyer to point out all the fucking flaws. Even then, a good lawyer can easily be shot down by a faggot judge who rues that "it's the law", regardless of how sick a person is or how effective cannabis may be to their treatment. Not to mention, many of us have no rights to prosecute against malpractice by pharmaceutical companies who test these random chemical cocktails on us. So, when you look at it that way, we are basically being strong-armed into being guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical companies, who get to operate with impunity.
Also worth mentioning that it was not only the government taking advantage of said loophole, but numerous corporations, who've used prisoners as a way to keep production cost incredibly low. This didn't just take jobs away that would be outsourced to other countries, this took jobs away from Americans who were willing to work for a paycheck. This is the primary reason why so many businesses have been so strict on applicants who use said substance. They have protected interests in keeping prohibition of cannabis in affect, since most marijuana "offenders" are not violent, require no additional supervision, and are pretty much the ideal "worker"/slave for those looking to employ "prisoners".
I should talk about all the propaganda and lies they've circulated to keep public opinion in the dark about the numerous valid medical applications. One common slander that gets circulated is to say that smoking "weed" (that name itself is slanderous propaganda) affects developing brains, making it harder to find employment later in life or whatever. Which is complete bull shit, since many of these employers "drug" test for marijuana, which stays in the body for much longer than other substances, depending on what type of drug test is used. Historically, the "pee-test" has been preferred method for businesses, which can show positives for a month, perhaps longer. Compared to an opiate which won't show up much past a week or two, and even then a simple doctor's note can allow someone to "pass" their test. Hell, even eating foods with poppy-seed can set off a false positive, which can then be stated as plausible deniability and allow one a "second chance" to test ad pass. It's ridiculous.