I disagree with the idea that "it’s easier to start out with more regulations than to try to regulate after the fact". It may be easier for the government; it is most certainly not easier for those being regulated. Repealing pointless regulations tends to be a low priority for government; repealing regulations that should not exist but are supported by a small constituency is even lower priority. The result is that if "more regulations" are put in place, they ossify and it often takes decades to get rid of them after it's clear that they are a mistake.

Marijuana prohibition itself is a horrible example. It was done by regulation without any debate or examination of the (lack of) scientific evidence to support prohibition; fifty years after the fact, the LeDain Commission recognized that prohibition was a mistake, and more than forty years after that we are finally moving to legalize. In other words, we had a bad regulation in 1923 and by the time we're rid of it, 95 years has passed.