Wow. Pot. Just like that, on its way to being legalized. Well, just like that after 50 years or so.
In order to save itself from financial oblivion, the state of California seems inclined to just do it. Just say yes. To become Amsterdam.
It may be the biggest thing to come out of the financial meltdown. We won't get meaningful reform of the banking system, but we're going to get legalized pot.
This is partly because the Justice Department has just issued new guidelines to prosecutors telling them not to override state laws about medicinal marijuana use. And because California's governor (a pot smoker from way back) is gently encouraging the legalization movement to help him out of his terrible financial mess. And because everybody in California already smokes pot anyway.
All right, it is not yet a done deal. The federal government is still harrumphing about how it will draw the line at recreational use. But legalization is clearly headed to a ballot initiative. And California ballot initiatives are, often, in themselves culturally transformative. So California goes for pot by a wide margin, leaving Washington in a fix. A Democratic president is hardly going to resist the party's most crucial state.
So forget health care. Obama is going to be the pot president. Hell, Franklin Roosevelt, in his Depression, saw the end of prohibition.
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Looks like its going to be a good year for Marijuana. Finally!
Yes We Cannabis!
amsterdam, colorado.. i like it!