Another step towards a common-sense idea:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the time is right to debate legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California.
The governor's comments were made as support grows nationwide for relaxing pot laws and only days after a poll found that for the first time a majority of California voters back legal marijuana. Also, a San Francisco legislator has proposed regulating and taxing marijuana to bring the state as much as $1.3 billion a year in extra revenue.
As Gov. Schwarzenegger noted, this really isn't just a question of whether legalizing marijuana would generate much-needed tax revenue. This is question of whether the current war on drugs is working, and whether marijuana should be a part of that war.
The fact that the economy is struggling mightily right now may help clarify the answers to those questions, but the reality is that the way we treat marijuana just doesn't make any more sense than did prohibition.
Modernizing and liberalizing our marijuana laws is an idea whose time has come, and Schwarzenegger deserves credit for opening the door to it.