Schram: Can Washington state be far behind?

Within the next year there could be as many as three pot legalization measures on a California ballot.

And polls show that voters there are likely to support lifting the legal ban on marijuana, one way or another.

Some think taxing the sale of pot is a way to help get California back on its economic feet.

Others insist that pot should be on the same par as alcohol and that it's a waste of time and resources to chase down, arrest, prosecute and jail people for smoking a joint.

The point is, California seems poised to be the first state to flat out legalize marijuana.

And as we've all heard: As California goes, so goes the nation.

The big problem remains the federal government.

U.S. drug policy doesn't even recognize state laws that allow medical use of marijuana.

Federal drug czar - and former Seattle police chief - Gil Kerlikowske noted earlier this year: "Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary and it's not in mine."

I say it should be.

I say the legalization of marijuana is inevitable.

Better to have the feds on board sooner rather than later.

California will be the first state to put pot on the legal up and up.

And I'd hope that Washington State would be the second.


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