It was a massive operation. Law enforcement personnel from four counties, along with the state Department of Criminal Investigation, busted two Monroe County farms that grew marijuana. Both growers face at least 15 years of imprisonment.

The drug busts raise a fundamental question: Is it really worth all that taxpayer money to pursue and prosecute people who grow pot?

This isn’t a critique of local law enforcement officers. They aren’t the ones who wrote drug laws patterned after the ridiculous 1936 movie “Reefer Madness.” However, the raid confirms that prosecuting the marijuana trade isn’t cheap. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the United States spends $12.1 billion on law enforcement and court costs and $16.9 billion in correction costs every year. Roughly 500,000 people are arrested for marijuana possession or sale annually, and five million have been arrested over the past decade. They account for over five percent of all people arrested by law enforcement over that span.

What do Americans get for their $29 billion law enforcement investment? No much. Many marijuana users are otherwise law-abiding citizens, and there’s little evidence that marijuana use leads to other crimes. To the extent that marijuana is a gateway to more serious drugs like cocaine, that’s only because its production is driven underground. Sever the legal link between marijuana and more dangerous drugs -- drugs that should remain illegal -- and the gateway effect likely disappears.

Finally, there’s the issue of medical marijuana. The evidence is clear that marijuana can mitigate the pain and nausea associated with chemotherapy and glaucoma, and federal laws that prohibit use in these situations are closed-minded and cruel. President Barack Obama’s decision to stop the Justice Department from arresting medical marijuana users was long overdue.

Is legalization cost-free? No. Marijuana isn’t physically addictive like alcohol or nicotine, but users are vulnerable to psychological addiction. There is evidence that long-term, sustained use of marijuana can permanently impair mental functions, and there’s also the problem of developing a test for people who drive or operate heavy equipment under the influence of the drug.

The issue isn’t whether marijuana use is good or bad; it’s whether law enforcement resources necessary to curb its use pass the cost/benefit test. America has the world’s highest incarceration rate and needs serious soul-searching about its law enforcement priorities. Marijuana laws are a good place to start.