Last week I visited the Netherlands. I’m happy to report the country isn’t a lawless hellscape. In fact, it’s a lovely place. Apparently, it hasn’t been overrun with gangs of dangerous drug addicts nor has it become a crime ridden anarchistic wasteland where the only law is the thunderdome. Amazingly, none of these horrible things have happened to this small country, even though it has openly allowed the use and commercial sale of cannabis for decades.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed a law approving the use of medical marijuana. His signature makes Delaware the 16th state (plus Washington, DC) to approve the medical use of marijuana.

A new poll from Rasmussen finds the American people nearly evenly divided on whether or not to legalize and tax marijuana to help the government bring in new revenue.

Local organizers in Oregon have begun the push to gather the required 87,213 signatures to put the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) on the ballot in 2012, now that the petition has been approved by the Secretary of State.

I suspect the medical marijuana industry, thanks to its fast growth, is approaching an important financial tipping point as it becomes legal in more states. At a certain size, it will have enough employees, related businesses who depend on it, and governments who rely on its tax revenue that it will become integral in the greater economic web.

The latest YouGov poll for The Economist has found a solid majority, 58 percent of Americans, agree that marijuana should be regulated and taxed just like like alcohol and tobacco. Almost as important, the poll found that only 23 percent disagreed with the idea of treating cannabis like alcohol.

The Congressional representative was targeted because she responded to a question from the shooter in a way he could not understand. “What is government if words have no meaning?” It is a difficult question. In the reality of the shooter the government, the frustration and anger and the Representative are conflated. To the rational mind the reality games, the internet, fascism and cannabis are incidental, not causative. But cannabis, particularly an Indica with high cannabidiol content, might be therapeutic. Using this unfortunate individual to support a particular political party or policy is irrational.

California’s Prop 19 lost by a such a narrow margin that its hard to imagine prohibition lasting much longer. In order to end the war on marijuana as soon as possible, Just Say Now is preparing for battle in 2012, but we cannot move forward without hearing from you, the backbone of this movement, first.

THE DEADLINE FOR OUR SURVEY IS TONIGHT. Click here to take Just Say Now’s survey on marijuana and the 2010 election, and help us bring prohibition to an end.

PS: If you take our survey by tonight, you will get a discount code worth 10% off purchases from our online store!

The fate of Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in California, is still very much up in the air. Depending on which most recent polls you look at, the measure is either winning by a few points or losing by a few points. Looking into the crosstabs of the polling on this proposition, it is clear that the success or failure of Prop 19 rides on the ability of its supporters to get out the vote.

For millions of medical marijuana patients across the country, this is the scary, unfortunate reality. But there is hope: in Oregon, voters are about to take up Measure 74, a ballot measure to provide safe, regulated access to medical marijuana for patients in the state. Just Say Now is working with the Measure 74 campaign to let voters know how badly patients need this measure.