And The Next State(s) To Step Up Is…

 Ever since the election triumphs in Oregon, Alaska and DC,  interested parties have been asking where marijuana legalization will strike next.  Phil Smith editor and writer of the Drug War Chronicle  has just published The March Toward Marijuana Legalization: 2016 And Beyond” an excellent overview  of state wide legalization efforts which I recommend for readers like me who are trying to keep current.

Beginning with California, which he describes as the “big prize”, Smith discusses legalization campaigns in Massachusetts, Maine and Missouri and the looking to the future work being done in Michigan.  Smith, who has been reporting on drug policy since 2000,  seems optimistic but he ends the article with two cautions.  First, as Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance points out, there are dangers in a” sense of overconfidence, a feeling that marijuana will legalize itself” and “entrepreneurs trying to push the envelope[who]could push too far.” Second, Smith’s warning-“don’t forget federal pot prohibition.” As he puts it, “if repealing federal pot prohibition is the Holy Grail, reformers still have a ways to go.” When does Smith think federal change will happen? “Maybe when we have 24 legal marijuana states, not just four of them. “