Marijuana

Voters in the Colorado ski town of Breckenridge passed an ordinance allowing residents and visitors to experience the Rockies as God intended -- pleasantly stoned.

In yesterday's election, a measure decriminalizing adult possession of up to an ounce of pot passed by a landslide, garnering 72 percent of the vote. It was the latest move in the Great Colorado Marijuana Rush of 2009, a somewhat schizophrenic scramble by people on both sides of the marijuana legalization issue to stake out their familiar positions. Spurred by the U.S. Justice Department's decision earlier this year suggesting U.S. Attorneys quit prosecuting medical marijuana clinics that comply with state law, Colorado -- and many of the other 14 states that allow medical users to own, grow and use pot -- saw explosive growth in both storefront dispensaries and new marijuana patients.

Municipalities have reacted differently to what many are calling a "Green Rush" stampede to set up shop before the state Legislature convenes in January; many believe it's likely lawmakers will consider tougher regulations on how medical marijuana patients can get their weed. Some cities, like conservative cow town Greeley, acted preemptively to stem what its city leaders feared would be an apocalyptic pothead invasion and banned dispensaries outright. Other towns, like Breckenridge, took the opposite approach and flat-out legalized pot in small amounts whether or not one is a medical marijuana patient.

Of course, regardless of Breckenridge's stance, possession of pot in any amount is a crime under federal law punishable -- depending on where you live, how much you're busted with and your level of involvement in criminal organizations -- by the entire spectrum of American penal options, from municipal infractions to the death penalty. Activists, however, hope that such grassroots efforts (ahem) will inspire states themselves to knock down prohibition laws and eventually lead to nationwide decriminalization.

"I think the next five or six years are going to be incredibly exciting for this issue," Keith Stroup, the founder of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws told Fortune Magazine in September. "I honestly believe we'll stop arresting individual smokers in almost all states and start to see the first one or two states experiment with a legalization bill."

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