The American Empire is at an introspective moment, rethinking past policies that have led us to this moment of national exigency as it tries to get its bearings in a multipolar world where it -- and we -- are no longer at the center. If ever there was a time for the forces against criminalizing marijuana to push for it legalization, that would be now. Eroding state budgets as the Great Recession progresses are making an eloquent case for decriminalizing and taxing the sweet leaf to fill depleted state tax coffers. Prisons, costly in this deleveraged perfect storm scenario, are filled to the brim with non-violent drug offenders costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Mexican drug gangs on our border are now in the marijuana business, profiting off its illegality. And lawmakers from both sides of the aisle from Senator Jim Webb to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are asking for an open debate on the question of legalization.

Last week The Massachusetts Bar Association issued a fascinating report titled "The Failure of the War on Drugs: Charting a New Course for the Commonwealth," [PDF] arguing for the overhaul and reexamination of legal efforts to fight drug use and the penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. The report's recommendations would result in tens of millions of dollars in savings by diverting non-violent drug possession offenders to treatment instead of jail ($8 million saved annually), and mandatory minimum sentencing reform ($17 million in savings, hello?).

Marijuana-related legalization bills are popping up in state houses and ballot initiatives across the country. Momentum for marijuana legalization is at the highest in my lifetime. How curious that the War on Drugs, which began with haughty rhetoric may turn on financial insolvency .

[Image: AP]