Let’s talk about where we stand legally. On Election Day 2012 voters in the states of Colorado and Washington legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use. While many details remain to be hashed out over the next few years, this is an excellent step towards the end of the legal and cultural war on marijuana. President Obama has indicated that the federal government will not focus on arresting individual recreational users, though federal law still considers marijuana illegal. Later statements from the Department of Justice indicated that the Federal government will allow marijuana shops set up for the purchase of recreational marijuana to operate unharmed as long as they don’t otherwise break the law. Still, there is no way to predict what the future will hold for marijuana users or retail shops, in Colorado or elsewhere. For now we can rejoice that this great injustice has begun to change.

Amendment 64 allows for retail shops to sell recreational marijuana to adults over the age of 21. It also allows adults to grow marijuana in their own homes. That means that I can grow my own and if you’re 21 or older so can you.

There are limits on this new right, and I’ll get to that later. But for one moment I want to sit back with you and smile, laugh, shake hands, sing a song, and roll one if you’ve got one. Because this step is the beginning of the end of the Great War on Some People Who Use Some Drugs, and it’s an important step. We should all be pleased that the people of Colorado had the vision and the courage to enact this law.