My candidate for President didn't win last night, gathering a paltry 1% of the vote. But there was one result I was very happy with. The voters of Colorado decided to lead the nation in ending the ridiculous prohibition of marijuana (yes I know, there is still the small problem of Federal prohibition, but one step at a time.)
I find a useful guide to thinking about many social policies is to ask yourself what people will think twenty of forty years from now. I'm pretty sure future generations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time we sent SWAT teams to break down people's doors in the middle of the night and send them to jail just to stop a few people getting high, all while creating the massive black market on which the criminal organisations who reap so much death and destruction thrive. Sort of like we did in the 1920's when we ran the same experiment with alcohol with the same tragic effects. Alcohol is not without its problems, but I think we've proved that it does massively less harm when legalized and regulated.
Not that I plan to rush out and smoke a joint. Doesn't appeal to me at all. But neither does sky diving. People get hurt doing that too, but that's a pretty stupid reason to make it illegal. Police should focus on real crimes; the ones where people hurt someone other than themselves.
