While some past presidents took a hard stance against cannabis, others have called for reform and even acknowledged using it at some point in their lives.

This weekend, Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, joined a growing number of Latin American leaders, academics, and artists in calling for an end to failed prohibition policies: “[Legalization] is the only solution," said the author. "Drug trafficking can not be defeated by military means.” It seems strange that such well-respected members of Latin American society are more and more willing to come out in favor of reform, while here in the States, most public officials…