Jacob Sullum on the Perils of Pushing Pot Prohibition

Two months ago, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department would settle on a response to marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington "relatively soon." But that response has yet to materialize, and there is no indication of when it will. Senior Editor Jacob Sullum says this caginess may be a good sign, reflecting the Obama administration's awareness that interfering with these experiments in pharmacological tolerance would be politically perilous. Survey data released last week indicate that most Americans think marijuana should be legalized, while an even larger majority says states should be free to make that decision.