[Kevin M]

The reason pot isn't legal and isn't going to be int he near future is that too many voters are still not interested in changing anything that isn't preventing them from doing something they want to do. That, and the quasi-morality/religious blocs that think anything they won't do is evil and should be disallowed. So despite the fact that a fair percentage of politicians would not mind legalizing marijuana (taxation would be a separate issue) they can't make any waves over it for a few more decades while society catches up to logic.

This issue is why we still have social-political problems at all. If politicians were able to free themselves from the burden of constantly trying to get re-elected, they'd be much more effective as policy makers. Maybe Congress should serve 10 year terms with a 2 term limit. We should get at least 3-5 years of campaign-free work out of them that way I think...