The fact that the voters in two states so overwhelmingly supported the change is making it much easier for politicians, government officials, and prominent public figures to speak out for the idea.

Yesterday, when Colorado Governor Jon Hickenlooper added Amendment 64 to the state’s constitution it became legal for adults to possess, use and even grow a limited quantity of marijuana for their personal. This historic moment was in part made possible thanks to the work of Mason Tvert, who was an official proponent of the initiative and the co-director of the campaign in support of it.

I recently had a conservation with Mr. Tvert about Amendment 64 and what he thinks it will mean for the future of marijuana legalization.

Marijuana is now legal under Colorado law. On November 6th the people of Colorado voted overwhelmingly in support of Amendment 64, but initiative amendments don’t officially go into effect until the election results have been certified and the governor adds the amendment to the state’s constitution. On Monday Governor John Hickenlooper (D) signed the executive order making it officially the law in Colorado.

The New York Times reported Thursday that high level talks are going on within the Obama administration on how to deal with Washington and Oregon, both of whose voters helped bring Obama his second term, and both of which had more voters support legalizing recreational marijuana use than voted for the president. Obama is the third president in a row to have used marijuana in his younger days.

The NYT article uses so many anonymous White House sources it reeks of “trial balloon.”

Last year, a hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) chemical fluid disclosure “model bill” was passed by both the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It proceeded to pass in multiple states across the country soon thereafter, but as Bloomberg recently reported, the bill has been an abject failure with regards to “disclosure.”

That was by design, thanks to the bill’s chief author, ExxonMobil.

The Washington Post is the largest paper in the Washington D.C. area and is read by many federal officials and politicians. It is often viewed as the embodiment of centrist conventional Washington thinking. Asking the federal government to leave Colorado and Washington states alone shows how significantly the election changed the politics surrounding marijuana reform.

It has been two weeks since the voters in Colorado and Washington State chose to legalize marijuana, yet there still hasn’t been any solid response from the Obama administration. How the federal government will deal with the conflict between state and federal laws on marijuana remains the big unanswered question.

Even though last week the voters of Colorado overwhelmingly approved Amendment 64, it will be roughly a month before it is officially added to the state constitution and goes into effect. In the meantime adult marijuana possession is still technically a crime under state law. But already at least one district attorney is responding to the clear will of the electorate. In Boulder the DA is dismissing several pending minor marijuana cases.

The lesson for politicians and political strategists appears to be that if you want to significantly increase youth turnout, make the election about legalizing marijuana.

The fact that marijuana legalization has noticeably more support than Obama in Colorado may have an impact on the law’s implementation in the state. If there are showdowns with federal agencies over marijuana being legal under state law the fact that it is more popular than the President could encourage local officials to side against the feds.