Ending Prohibition a 2010 Platform for Politicians?

The Marijuana Policy Project is currently campaigning in Arizona and Nevada to get initiatives on the 2010 ballot. MPP has a successful track record fighting marijuana prohibition, but Americans need to pressure politicians to start seeing change on the federal level.

If more constituents voiced their opinion we would surely see politicians using the end of marijuana prohibition as a platform. Think about it, the goal of elected officials is to win their next election, usually by any means possible.

Norm Stamper was the chief of police in Seattle before Gil Kerlikowske, our current drug czar. In his latest blog entry he mentions that three progressive magazines are featuring the marijuana prohibition topic. He also questions the substantial divide between public opinion and our politician's stance on marijuana prohibition.

Three out of four Americans believe the "war on drugs" is a failure and can never be won. Serious people like Sen. Jim Webb, former Mexican president Vicente Fox, Congressmen Barney Frank, Charlie Rangel, Steve Cohen and others, even a growing body of right-of-center analysts and politicians have been saying it's time to fundamentally reshape our approach to drug control.

So, why this divide between massive public opposition to current policies and the positions taken by our leaders? Fear, of course. They're afraid of being punished for touching what has been perceived, mistakenly, as a third rail issue.