Are we winning the War on Drugs? Why are we even fighting it? Yet another endless war against ambiguous enemies, it has become an almost forgotten battle. Today, the law stands in hypocritical contradiction to actual American attitudes toward marijuana. Despite billions spent on tough enforcement, half of the public now supports marijuana legalization. As the spurious claims of the drug’s danger have been disproven, use among younger Americans is increasing. Why shouldn’t it, when even the past three presidents have admitted to having used marijuana!

Our drug laws are supposed to combat destructive drug dependency, yet in Portugal that goal was actually achieved by legalizing all drugs. The rest of the world is discovering that problems which may arise from drug abuse may be successfully approached as treatable medical and therapeutic issues, instead of criminal cases.

Yet even as many healing properties have been discovered in marijuana, arguments for legalization have been ignored. Our federal government effectively erases state laws protecting their medicinal usage,denying treatment to and even imprisoning those dying of terminal illnesses.

But there is hope. By using the power of the ballot box, Americans can fight the two-party syndicate responsible for the absurdity of imprisoning people for the victimless “crime” of attending to their own health. From across the political spectrum, people are supporting state and local movements for the legalization of marijuana.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, a campaign supported financially by the Marijuana Policy Project, is promoting a ballot initiative in Colorado that would, as the campaign name suggests, regulate marijuana usage in the state in a manner similar to alcohol.  If successful, Colorado’s initiative would send a strong message nationwide that the American people say no to our costly, counterproductive War on Drugs.

“The people of Colorado have the opportunity this year to end the irrational system of marijuana prohibition in their state,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “And should they do so, which we expect they will, they will send a strong signal to the rest of the nation that the days of the federal government imposing marijuana prohibition on all 50 states need to come to an end. Both parties in Washington have overseen a spending orgy on the war on marijuana for the past four decades. After dumping hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into a black hole, it is time for a new approach — to say the least.”