By "raping the plant," I meant that, being capitalist America, our style is to go bigger and cheaper. Unless we had specific agricultural guidelines paired-up with a group of surveyors doing random checks at grow sites, this perfect plant could be tainted with cheap fertilizers and other unhealthy chemicals. It's all about making money in America, quick and easy, which would lead me to believe a legalization would undoubtedly put the plant into the hands of someone (government) who only cared about the bottom line: the money. When they don't care about the quality of the product, and just want to see stocks jump, they'd end up selling taxed, potentially unhealthy, marijuana for lower prices than the competition (experienced growers). Without specific guidelines and a powerful board of people who could enforce the rules, legalization would probably make the plant far less enjoyable, and potentially very unhealthy.
I don't know what you like to smoke, but I support my local growers and the immaculate organic farming and true appreciation of the crop to which I've become accustomed. Blaze up.