At a press conference today, Calif. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was asked about a recent poll finding that 56% of the state's voters support taxing and regulating marijuana as a means of bridging the state budget gap. While not endorsing the idea, Schwarzenegger did say it deserves a healthy debate.

From The Sacramento Bee:

"Well, I think it's not time for that, but I think it's time for a debate," Schwarzenegger said. "I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?"

He said his native Austria is revisiting some of its marijuana laws, for instance. The Austrian Parliament last year authorized medical marijuana.

"It could very well be that everyone is happy with that decision and then we could move to that," Schwarzenegger said of other nations' legalization policies. "If not, we shouldn't do it. But just because of raising revenues ... we have to be careful not to make mistakes at the same time.

Until recently, marijuana prohibition has been the proverbial elephant in the room that most politicians have avoided discussing. Schwarzenegger, himself a past consumer of marijuana, heads the executive branch of the largest state government in the United States and presides over the fifth largest economy on the planet.

Former drug czar John Walters wants Americans to believe that his draconian policies caused drug use to drop, especially among young people. He and his spokespeople credited their ad campaigns for cutting teen drug use, despite expert evaluations that showed otherwise. And in a pair of Wall Street Journal op-eds published this March and April Walters again warned against any change of course that might deviate from his alleged "success."

This is not news, but it's important to address because this line of argument will be raised against any effort by the Obama administration or Congress to shift even modestly toward more rational marijuana policies.

Fortunately, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has neatly, if unintentionally, debunked Walters' claims in its 2008 World Drug Report.

Yes, U.S. drug use did decline a bit during his tenure, according to government surveys. But if Walters' policies -- particularly his saturation anti-marijuana advertising and PR blitz -- were responsible, then marijuana use in the U.S. should have declined more than in other countries. It didn't.

In a telling series of graphs starting on page 113, the U.N. report shows that the decline in teen marijuana use in the U.S. actually began in 1998, well before Walters took office. More importantly, many other countries that didn't go on an anti-marijuana jihad saw comparable or even greater declines, including Spain, France, Britain, and Australia. The decline in marijuana use among British teens and adults not only continued after Britain ended most marijuana possession arrests in 2004, it accelerated.

What's striking about the graphs is how similar many of them are, despite widely differing government policies toward marijuana. It's hard to avoid concluding that social trends are playing a much larger role than any government policies, and that Walters' alleged successes are simply the product of his own imagination.

One of California’s most respected polling firms, Field Research, just released data showing that 56% of registered voters in the state support legalizing and taxing marijuana as a means of generating revenue for the ailing state budget.

The poll asked voters for their opinions on various tax proposals. Making marijuana legal turned out to be among the most popular. The marijuana tax beat out carbon taxes, gas taxes, and business property taxes, among others.

Hopefully this poll will ensure that A.B. 390, a state bill to tax and regulate marijuana in California, will pick up more support in Sacramento.

The Washington Post also just released a national poll showing that 46% of Americans support “legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.” To put this number into perspective, Americans are now more likely to support marijuana legalization than approve of either party's job performance in Congress.

Earlier today, MPP announced the launch of a TV ad campaign in New Hampshire. The ad features Sandy Drew, a retired nurse and multiple sclerosis sufferer, and calls on Gov. John Lynch (D) to sign the medical marijuana bill.

The Senate passed the bill yesterday by a 14-10 vote. It now heads back to the House (which easily passed it last month) to accept the minor changes the Senate made to the bill. Gov. Lynch could then either sign it, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

Sandy’s ad is airing on WMUR and major cable stations including CNN, Fox, and MSNBC throughout the state. You can watch it here now:

Gov. Lynch has expressed concerns about the bill, but has not said what he will do once the bill reaches his desk. If you live in New Hampshire, please join with the courageous patients like Sandy and urge Gov. Lynch to sign the medical marijuana bill.

We just got word that the Rhode Island Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill, 35-2, that would establish "compassion centers" to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients, making access for the seriously ill far safer and more reliable.

Just to recap, that means three huge victories for medical marijuana patients and advocates today. Earlier, the senates in New Hampshire and Minnesota both passed bills that would protect seriously ill patients from arrest for using medical marijuana with their doctor's recommendation.

That brings all three states much closer to improving the lives of their seriously ill medical marijuana patients, but we aren't there yet, so stay tuned.

Although a vote for a bill similar to those in Minnesota and New Hampshire by the Illinois Senate didn't take place today, that's not necessarily bad news. It gives the bill's sponsor, Sen. Bill Haine, more time to build support among his colleagues after amending the bill to address the concerns made by some law enforcement officials.

Meanwhile, many of those same law enforcement officials and the drug-war supporting organization Educating Voices have announced a press conference at the Statehouse tomorrow at 10 a.m. Central to argue against Haine's bill.

I mention their press conference because I think it's important to air all sides of this debate. I also think it helps the cause of seriously ill patients who rely on medical marijuana for people to hear the rationale behind those who would continue to make them criminals.

Oh, Illinois residents, please let your representatives know it's time to end the cruel, senseless war against medical marijuana patients. We're close to ending it in Illinois, but they need your help.

Update (8/21/2009): Mexican President Felipe Calderón has signed this legislation into law. Click here to read more.

Mexico’s Senate passed a bill on Tuesday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana and other drugs. The bill would make it legal to carry up to 5 grams of marijuana in Mexico and defers low-level drug dealing cases to the Mexican states.

Proposed by President Felipe Calderon, the bill seeks to free up law enforcement resources in order to better fight violent drug cartels that have drawn international attention. The legislation must pass in the lower house before being sent to the president and signed into law.

This is notable not only because a similar proposal was vetoed by former Mexican President Vicente Fox under pressure from then-President Bush, but also because it closely follows Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan’s April 12 statement on Face the Nation that ending marijuana prohibition is a debate that should be happening on both sides of the border.

U.S. and Mexican officials estimate that between 60% and 70% of the drug cartels' profits come from marijuana sales in the U.S.  So while efforts to decriminalize marijuana possession in Mexico are laudable, ambitious legislation in the U.S. is needed to fully combat the rising tide of violence along the border.

See this piece from Reuters for more information on Mexico’s decriminalization bill.

Minnesota's Senate just followed its New Hampshire counterpart with a medical marijuana victory of its own, passing its medical marijuana bill 36-28. The process in Minnesota is a little complicated: Today's vote was technically made by the Senate's Committee of the Whole, and needs an official vote that will probably take place later this week. But today's victory is a very good sign.

Supporters in Minnesota can help seal this victory by contacting their representatives in both chambers urging them to pass this medical marijuana bill now.

The New Hampshire Senate just passed their medical marijuana bill, 14-10. If you live in New Hampshire, you can send Gov. John Lynch a fax urging him to allow the bill to become law. It's free.

As I said last night, this could be a big day for medical marijuana across the country, and this is a great start. More to come ...

It's never easy to know for sure, but this week could be huge for medical marijuana reform if things go just right in state legislatures across the country. The senates in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Hampshire all could vote to pass medical marijuana bills as early as tomorrow. At the same time, the Rhode Island Senate could vote on a bill creating medical marijuana compassion centers, making safe access to qualified patients in the state far less burdensome.

So stay tuned – we'll let you know as soon as we know.

Aaron Houston, MPP's director of government relations, has just posted some thoughts on President Obama's first 100 days on the Congress Blog of the Capitol Hill political paper, The Hill. You can read all of Aaron's thoughts here. The bottom line: "While we have a pretty good idea of where Obama is heading on issues like the economy and health care, his direction on marijuana and drug policy remains unclear."