David Davidson. Washington looks like it could be the first state to legalize marijuana. A general consensus among state and local polls appears to show momentum on the affirmative side of proposition I-502. Public Policy Polling , Komo 4 and the Seattle Times latest polls all show the initiative leading with 53 to 55 percent of those most likely to vote supporting the measures adoption (Martin). This is a very significant Initiative with numerous Local, State and National legal and political ramifications. An examination of I-502 would seem to be in order. Marijuana, or Hemp was legal and it’s production was actively encouraged very early on in the colonies of what would become America. Following the American civil war marijuana was used in numerous medical products that were sold over the counter- with no restrictions whatsoever. The Marijuana tax act of 1937 was the first real law that made marijuana a restricted substance (NPR). The laws have fluctuated somewhat, but for the most part have continued towards less tolerance or zero tolerance models. Democrats removed minimum sentencing laws in 1970. Meanwhile, President Nixon was beginning his all out “War on Drugs” going so far as to call them “public enemy number one”(NPR). Reagan reinitiated mandatory sentencing making them the toughest to date in the mid 1980’s- 100 marijuana plants was now the illegal equivalent of 100 grams of Heroin (NIDA). Nearly one in eight persons in prison in America today are there because of marijuana laws- Thanks in no small measure to the war on drugs. America would go on to be the worlds leading incarcerator of its own citizens- 760 per 100,000 caught up within the American prison industrial complex. how do other countries fare- Britain is the next highest with 142 per 100,000 and everyone else is below 100 per 100,000 (PBS 1). That’s right, the war