California Votes To Legalize Marijuana, Paving The Way For A Nationwide Push

The trend of state-level legalization reflects a broader cultural shift toward acceptance of marijuana, the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States. About 20 million people reported using the substance in a one-month period, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2013. And last year, about 47 percent of U.S. adults said they’d used marijuana during their lifetimes. Attitudes toward the plant have improved dramatically in recent years, with support for legalization reaching a high point nationwide last month.

Still, the federal government continues to ban cannabis, classifying it in Schedule I as one of the “most dangerous” drugs, alongside heroin and LSD.

States have been able to forge ahead on legalization despite the federal ban, helped in part by federal guidance that urged prosecutors to refrain from targeting marijuana operations that are legal under state law.

Even President Barack Obama has suggested the government may soon need to reassess its position. In an interview with Bill Maher that aired last week, Obama said successes in the legalization movement should lead to “a more serious conversation about how we are treating marijuana and our drug laws generally.”

“If, in fact, [marijuana legalization] passed in all these states [on Tuesday], you now have about a fifth of the country that’s operating under one set of laws, and four-fifths in another,” said Obama. “The Justice Department, DEA, FBI ? for them to try to straddle and figure out how they’re supposed to enforce laws in some places and not in others — they’re gonna guard against transporting these drugs across state lines, but you’ve got the entire Pacific corridor where this is legal — that is not gonna be tenable.”