Washington among states considering legalizing marijuana, dozens of states weigh other reforms -- latimes.com

Below is a report from the AP on attempts to legalize marijuana in various States. There are many good reasons to legalize marijuana and all other drugs. One of those reasons is the amount of money spent on prohibition . State and local governments are unable to balance their budgets, so why should they spend money fighting victimless crimes?

Another consideration is public safety. Prison space is finite. So are probation officers. For every non-violent drug offender that you send to prison, you are making it easier for a violent offender to get out earlier. Also, for every second a probation agent has to spend supervising a drug offender, she is not supervising a rapist, child molester, or murderer.

Now for the article:

Washington among states considering legalizing marijuana, dozens of states weigh other reforms -- latimes.com: "OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington is one of four states where measures to legalize and regulate marijuana have been introduced, and about two dozen other states are considering bills ranging from medical marijuana to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the herb.

'In terms of state legislatures, this is far and away the most active year that we've ever seen,' said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supports reforming marijuana laws."