>http://www.observer.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,615683,00.html
>
>THings are changing over there, I wonder how long until America catches up (6 months, 60 years, ever?). Who knows.

My guess is that it will be a very very long while, Mike.

Nixon (yea him, believe it or not) was slowly moving toward that kind of policy when other events overtook. There has really been no looking back to that ever since.

And since the end of the cold war, drug interdiction "tools" are an important source of revenue for the former "war" industries. Add to this the fact that drugs now give local police things they could only previously dream of (through the confiscation of property without due process) and the number of other beneficiaries of the present situation and there is virtually no incentive for anything different.
Look also at how the Governor (I think) of Arizona (I think) has been publicly ridiculed for talking along those lines. Even if "the people" are with him, the "powers" definitely are not, and the powers will, quietly but inexorably, 'change' the will of the people. It could be different if more people cared deeply about the issue, but I don't think they do. They have other bigger worries hitting closer to home.

2¢