Creeping Common Sense

I know, I know. It's a peculiar hobby horse of mine that every so often--maybe too often for some of you--I find it necessary to ride. But I mounted up again today when I read that two recent polls are showing the sentiment in the U.S. for legalization of marijuana on the rise. In fact, there's a greater percentage (43%) in favor of legalization than outright opposed (42%) with 15% undecided on the matter. It's already clear that marijuana has beneficial medicinal effects for people suffering from a variety of ailments.

I don't think it's too much of a  stretch to conclude that once age and time flush out a lot of the oldies among us who date their beliefs about this subject back to the beliefs expressed in "Reefer Madness"--if you have not seen this movie, you really should--by the time these people are gone, I say, there will be nothing left but millions upon millions of Americans who have ingested pot in some form and know it to be essentially harmless. Far less damaging and dangerous than legal-everywhere booze. A substantial percentage of people--65 percent--think it is likely that marijuana will be legalized within the next ten years.

The article parses all the numbers, but the bottom line here is perfectly clear: public opinion is going to alter the U.S. laws on marijuana fairly soon. And I say, it's about damn time.