Midterm Election's Marijuana Results Will End America's War on Drugs

Besides the political fallout from yesterday’s midterm elections, America’s long war against recreational marijuana is slowly but steadily coming to an end. Ballot measures approved in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia now contradict federal law which outlaw the growth and consumption of marijuana.

In Alaska, people age 21 and older can legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana and up to six plants. It will also make the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana paraphernalia legal.

In Oregon, recreational marijuana for people ages 21 and older is now legal. Adults over this age may possess up to eight ounces of “dried” marijuana and up to four plants. Additionally, the measure tasks the Oregon Liquor Control Commission with regulating sales of the drug.

In D.C., the public legalized adult marijuana use, possession of up to two ounces and home cultivation of up to six marijuana plants for personal use.

In California, where medical marijuana has long been legal, voters approved reducing small drug violations to misdemeanors, perhaps signaling that a vote to legalize marijuana is on its way.

We can expect more states to change their law-enforcement priorities by legalizing marijuana, and as revenue from the burgeoning industry is spent on lobbying efforts in Washington, federal lawmakers will become increasingly lax about enforcing its own statutes.

In his Big Think interview, former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank equates marijuana legalization with the acceptance of gay marriage in that a broad generational change is behind both: