LEGAL POT DEBATE COULD FIND ITS WAY TO R.I. AND MASS.

For the time being, folks in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island can
consider last November's defeat of Proposition 19, a California ballot
initiative to legalize and regulate the personal use of marijuana, as
none of their business. But as this debate spreads outward from
California it will, sooner or later, reach Massachusetts, Rhode Island
and the rest of New England.

Having started the war on marijuana, the federal government is the
enforcer of the status quo -- even as opinion polls show the public's
desire for change. So, it is up to the states, one-by-one, to replace
failed drug war policies with something that makes sense. To see how
the future marijuana legalization debate might spread, let's consider
the work of professor Everett M. Rogers.

Based on hundreds of case studies, Rogers says the launch of a new
idea requires an adventuresome idea champion willing to deal with a
lot of uncertainty. A handful of "early adopters" will follow suit.
Then, after waiting and carefully watching what happens, the majority
of the potential "late adopters" are likely to give the new idea a
try. A few "laggards," might never adopt it.

Proposition 19 nearly passed in 2010 with 46 percent of the vote.
Let's assume in 2012 a similar initiative wins 51 percent and
California becomes the first state to legalize marijuana.

Shortly thereafter, if Rogers is right, states already familiar with
marijuana policy issues -- states like Rhode Island and Massachusetts
- -- will take a fresh look at marijuana legalization.

Massachusetts citizens became familiar with marijuana issues during
the debate leading up to the state officially reducing the possession
of a small amount of marijuana for personal use from a criminal act to
a finable civil infraction. In Rhode Island, citizens became
acquainted with marijuana issues during the debate leading up to
approving the use of marijuana for medical purposes statewide.

Other potential early adopters include Alaska and Nevada, where past
attempts to legalize marijuana failed but medical marijuana laws have
been adopted, and those states that have also approved medical
marijuana: Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New
Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington State and the District
of Columbia. Connecticut, New Hampshire and Minnesota passed medical
marijuana bills only to have them vetoed by the governors.

Other states that have reduced the possession of a small amount of
marijuana for personal use from a criminal act to a finable civil
infraction are also early adopter candidates. In addition to several
of the above states, these include Mississippi, Nebraska, New York,
North Carolina and Ohio.

After watching what happens in these early adopter states, according
to Rogers, the remaining "late adopter" states will finally consider
whether or not to legalize and regulate the personal use of small
amounts of marijuana in a manner similar to the way alcohol and
tobacco are now regulated.

The marijuana legalization debate in California is a public education
process in which fear of the unknown is being replaced with
understanding.

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, puts it this
way, "The greatest challenge is to break the taboo on vigorous, honest
and open debate about all drug policy options, that's what drug war
advocates most fear." And that is exactly the service Proposition 19
delivered last year in California. It got people talking about the
issue in an open and honest way.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, scores of newspapers across the
state ran hundreds of news and editorial stories, some in favor and
some against legalization. Millions of voters were called upon to
think long and hard about the costs and benefits of
legalization.

As long as no one knows how to curb America's urge to use alcohol,
tobacco -- or marijuana -- legalization and regulation is a common
sense alternative to the current, endless drug war. Wars, both foreign
and domestic, are easy to start and hard to stop. For this reason,
California is doing the entire nation and the people of Rhode Island
and Massachusetts a great service by seeking common sense drug control
policies that will greatly reduce criminal violence, increase tax
revenues and permit sensible regulation of a substance that is now
acquired through illicit, underground channels.