How do we stimulate the economy?

I'm only commenting on this because I have read so many outlandish responses to this particular issue, and while I can appreciate a good debate, every side needs to be heard. When I am passionate about an issue the first thing I ask myself is "will this affect the most number of people in my state in a positive way?" With that said, legalizing marijuana will certainly have a positive impact on the economy. Let's take for example the idea of free transportation. How the heck can free public transportation impact the most number of people if your looking at it in terms of nationally rather than locally. While that makes sense for the large metro areas to implement this to attempt to save any money that may be left, for rural and small towns, the impact would be miniscule. While a large number of people do rely on public transportation, in areas where it is less utilized its almost a convenience rather than a necessity
The problem with legalizing marijuana is that it needs to be done federally not state by state. The reason for that is that when one state sets the precedent for legalizing drugs, essentially they set themselves up as the "drug king-pins" of our country so to speak. In addition to that, legalizing marijuana is a quick way for states to throw any chance of federal funding out the window. With our economy the way it is, with unemployment rates at all time lows, legalizing the drug will only create more jobs.
The bottom line is that, no matter what this issue is, priority in my eyes, should be based on the number of individuals it effects. Gay marriage for example DOES NOT effect the most number of Americans, which is why we should be focusing on things such as energy and healthcare. Those two issues effect everyone to some degree equally. We all want to have health insurance (I would imagine anyways) but we are not all  effected by gay marriage. That’s not to say that it isn’t important, it just does not reach everyone on the same level. One last comment, for all the individuals who think marijuana is what causes people to some how become lazy, all I can say is WOW. How is that any different then the rest of the lazy Americans who decide everyday that its much easier to sit on their asses and collect federal assistance, then to actually seek employment.