Matthew Hurtt, Chairman of the Arlington, Virginia Young Republicans, (which is just outside D.C.) described the passage of I-71 as a “step in the right direction” for limited government and for sensible legal policy.
“I think the overwhelming passage of Initiative 71 is a step in the right direction for D.C. Voters in D.C. and states like Washington and Colorado believe we should have the freedom to choose what we put into our bodies, either for medicinal use or recreational use. The notion that you can be arrested and put away for a long time for small amounts of marijuana possession is outrageous. The War on Drugs has worked to destroy predominantly inner-city communities. Prohibition laws are disproportionately used to target minorities. Our focus should be on rehabilitation of addicts, not imprisonment of small-time offenders.”
Evidently old Republicans do not quite hold those kinds of views. Although Newt "Death For Two OZs of Pot" Gingrich backed decrim in California (it got 58% and won). Maybe Republicans are finally catching up.
My guess is that any Republican who does not stand for an end to Prohibition doesn't stand a chance in the run up to 2016.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Colorado's successful implementation of regulated, licensed, and taxed recreational cannabis is beginning to spread. Originally they expected to make about 10 million USD from taxes but turns out that was wrong, they have made 35 million from it and have used that money to pay for the school systems and law enforcement. Also there was a huge savings from the LEO's due to not having to police it, organized crime is down as is violent crime.
Also turns out all the posters here were dead wrong, there is no flood of cannabis zombies all over the place, no great dystopia or any of the nonsensical "predicted" results from people out of touch with reality. Anyone who wanted to light up was already lighting up, but instead of that money going to legal business's and state coffers, it was going to fund drug gangs and eventually the drug cartels. I predict many other states will take this approach as seen my Washington and Alaska's recent legalization.