Marijuana legalization is gaining support. In a poll released Tuesday by CNN, 41 percent of American adults said they favored legalizing marijuana, while 56 percent opposed. Another poll, conducted early last month by the Pew Research Center, found 45 percent of adults supporting legalization and 50 percent against it. What is so interesting about this chart is that in just 20 years, those in favor of legalization have increased from

The current economic crisis may have one significant upside. It may convince Californians to finally legalize marijuana, so it can be taxed, thereby raising much-needed revenues for the state. Earlier this year, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco introduced a bill in the state legislature to decriminalize pot and tax it. And now backers of a measure that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in California and allow

ANNAPOLIS — When a police officer asked her what she was doing behind a van in the park, Pamela Hughes told him the honest truth. “I said I was smoking a cannabis cigarette,” she said. She presented the stunned policeman with a written recommendation from her doctor and a copy of Maryland’s “Compassionate Use Act,” which reduces the penalties for possession of medical marijuana. “I honestly thought that I wasn’t