I've written about legalizing drugs in a previous blogpost and as there is news on this front, it is time for a follow up.

California now has a legalization measure on the November ballot, polls are showing that it will likely pass. 56% of Californians polled are for legalizing pot, not to mention the huge budget shortfalls that government agencies from the local on up to the state are experiencing. This may be the first step in ending the failed "War on Drugs".

I also ran across this great post by Sting over on HuffPo today. Don't just read the post, read the comments as well, a lot of great stuff there. :)

Let us not forget that one of the first people to champion legalization, of not just pot but all drugs, was William F. Buckley...a conservative. There is also a growing movement in the law enforcement community to legalize pot and other drugs. In many cities now, enforcing the  pot prohibition has by law been reduced to the lowest priority for police officers.  Decriminalization is not enough, as it leaves a huge Gray area in terms of production and distribution which still allows criminals to profit off of it.

With the current administration's hands off policy towards a state's drug laws, at least pot should probably be legal soon, which, due to pot's federal classification as a narcotic, opens the door for  a better solution for other harder drugs.

I'm sure there will be a lot of vocal opposition and big money against the CA initiative from industries and law enforcement that directly profit from pot being illegal. You know, once pot is legal, people will able to grow hemp for other purposes than just the getting high kind of pot. Marijuana has many uses that are currently illegal...

The medical uses of it are barely known, as research on it has been hampered by our current drug laws. It has incredible potential for not only fiber but bio-fuel as well. I'd expect the pharmaceutical companies, as well as those currently using food crops for bio-fuel, to come out big against this . Not to mention law enforcement which likes being able to do drug seizures of property and possessions to fund themselves.

While legalization would kill a lot of jobs in the enforcement and prison sector, I think it would create far more jobs in actually productive sectors of our economy. I mean things that actually contribute to our economy, as opposed to prisons and the huge bureaucracy that that the "War on Drugs" has created...which contributes very little to our economy.

This is an idea thats time has come I think, for the first time in many years I think we may actually get this done.

If you live in CA, I would encourage you to vote yes on this initiative when it comes to a vote.  I wish I lived there to help pass this, but really, just as it was with medical pot, once CA passes this more states will go this direction.  And once enough states pass legalization laws, the feds will eventually do the same.

Please read Sting's post and at least some of the comments, it's really obvious that most of us see the futility of prohibition.

My 2cp.....