October 1 marks the 75th anniversary of U.S. pot prohibition. Will it last another 75 more?
If drug-law reformers working in three western states have any say, the answer will be a resounding no. Although voters in California and Nevada in recent years have come close neither has been able to get enough voters to the polls to get the job done.
Could this be the year?
Marijuana legalization measures next month will appear on the ballot in Colorado, Oregon and Washington – and it seems quite likely that voters in a least one of those states (reportedly, are looking pretty promising in Colorado) will take the plunge and vote to legalize pot.
Now, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen overnight, but certainly it could mark the beginning of the end. And, according to NORML, it couldn’t come a minute too soon: Pot prohibition now leads to some 850,000 arrests per year, and has resulted in 20 million arrests since 1965.
If the majority of Americans have any say, pot prohibition may, at long last, be headed the way of the dinosaur.
This article appears in September 28 • 2012.