Cannabis legalization has been referred to by some as ‘the great public policy experiment of this decade.’ Cannabis opponents have predicted that the experiment will fail, while supporters say the opposite. According to John Hudak from the Brookings Institute, opponents are being proven wrong by what’s going on in Colorado. Per the Brookings Institute:
As part of an examination of Colorado’s implementation and rollout, Brookings’ John Hudak spent a week in Denver interviewing elected officials, regulators, industry officials, and others playing a variety of roles and including supporters and opponents of legalization policy.
Hudak reports that the state of Colorado has largely succeeded in rolling out a legal marijuana system, and its early implementation efforts have been impressive.
The new report issued by the Brookings Institute doesn’t surprise cannabis law reform supporters, who have known this would be the case even before implementation started. Opponents on the other hand are probably shocked to their core, and are likely scrambling trying to come up with ways to spin the report. However, considering the fact that the Brookings Institute is so prestigious, it’s not going to be easy for people like Kevin Sabet to brush the report aside and/or discredit it.
Cannabis legalization is working in Colorado, and it can work in other states that decide to take a new approach too. Cannabis legalization is on the ballot in Alaska and Oregon already for the 2014 Election, and it will likely get on the ballot in Washington D.C. as well. 2016 is also shaping up to be a very big year for reform. Every state domino that falls will continue to build the momentum for reform at the national level, which can’t happen soon enough.
