The deputy director of NORML, a pot reform group, says ballot initiatives this year in Colorado and Washington herald the end of marijuana prohibition:

For the first time in well over seven decades, state law will declare that cannabis is no longer contraband.

While a minority of marijuana law reform activists has griped that these measures do not go far enough, the reality is that their passage will provide cannabis consumers with unprecedented legal protections. Presently, no state legally defines cannabis as a legal commodity. Some state laws do provide for a legal exception that allows for certain qualified patients to possess specific amounts of cannabis as needed. But none of these states define cannabis itself as a legal product that may be lawfully possessed and consumed by adults….

Similar to alcohol prohibition, cannabis prohibition is a federal policy that largely relies on state and local enforcement. How did federal alcohol prohibition come to an end? Simple. When a sufficient number of states – led by New York in 1923 (several other states, including Colorado, later followed) – enacted legislation repealing the state's alcohol prohibition laws. With states no longer doing the federal government's bidding to enforce an unpopular law, the Feds eventually had no choice but to abandon the policy altogether.   

Here's to history repeating itself. 

Let's hope he's right. Both measures are leading in the polls so it would be pretty shocking if we didn't get some momentum coming our way by Wednesday morning.