LEGALIZED POT MOMENTUM BUILDS

Drug Used for Medical Reasons Could Be First Step

NEW YORK - The savage drug war in Mexico. Crumbling state budgets.
Weariness with current drug policy. The election of a president who
said, "Yes - I inhaled."

These developments and others are kindling unprecedented optimism
among the many Americans who want to see marijuana legalized.

Doing so, they contend to an ever-more-receptive audience, could
weaken the Mexican cartels now profiting from U.S. pot sales, save
billions in law enforcement costs, and generate billions more in tax
revenue from one of the nation's biggest cash crops.

Said a veteran of the movement, Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy
Alliance: "This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back
and not in my face."

Foes of legalization argue that already-rampant pot use by
adolescents would worsen if adults could smoke at will.

Even the most hopeful marijuana activists doubt nationwide
decriminalization is imminent, but they see the debate evolving
dramatically and anticipate fast-paced change on the state level.

"For the most part, what we've seen over the past 20 years has been
incremental," said Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief now
active with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "What we've seen in
the past six months is an explosion of activity, fresh thinking, bold
statements and penetrating questions."

Some examples:

# Numerous prominent political leaders, including California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Mexican presidents, have suggested
it is time for open debate on legalization.

# Lawmakers in at least three states are considering joining the 13
states that have legalized pot for medical purposes. Massachusetts
voters last fall decided to decriminalize possession of an ounce or
less of pot; there are now a dozen states that have taken such steps.

# In Congress, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Sen. Jim Webb,
D-Va., are among several lawmakers contending that marijuana
decriminalization should be studied in re-examining what they deem to
be failed U.S. drug policy. "Nothing should be off the table," Webb said.

# National polls show close to half of American adults are now open
to legalizing pot - a constituency encompassing today's college
students and the 60-something baby boomers who popularized the drug
in their own youth. In California last month, a statewide Field Poll
for the first time found 56 percent of voters supporting legalization.

That poll pleased California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco
Democrat who introduced a bill in February to legalize marijuana in a
manner similar to alcohol - taxing sales to adults while barring
possession by anyone under 21. Ammiano hopes for a vote by early next
year and contends the bill would generate up to $1.3 billion in
revenue for his deficit-plagued state.

Ammiano, 67, said he has been heartened by cross-generational and
bipartisan support.

"People who initially were very skeptical - as the polls come in, as
the budget situation gets worse - are having a second look," he said.
"Maybe these issues that have been treated as wedge issues aren't
anymore. People know the drug war has failed."

A new tone on drug reform also has sounded more frequently in Congress.

At a House hearing last month, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., challenged
FBI Director Robert Mueller when Mueller spoke of parents losing
their lives to drugs.

"Name me a couple of parents who have lost their lives to marijuana,"
Cohen said.

"Can't," Mueller replied.

"Exactly. You can't, because that hasn't happened," Cohen said. "Is
there some time we're going to see that we ought to prioritize meth,
crack, cocaine and heroin, and deal with the drugs that the American
culture is really being affected by?"

In a telephone interview, Kucinich noted that both Obama and former
President Bill Clinton acknowledged trying marijuana.

"Apparently that didn't stop them from achieving their goals in
life," Kucinich said. "We need to come at this from a point of
science and research and not from mythologies or fears."

Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
has not endorsed the idea of an all-options review of drug policy,
but he has suggested scrapping the "war on drugs" label and placing
more emphasis on treatment and prevention.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said federal authorities will no
longer raid medical marijuana facilities in California.