Will marijuana be legal soon

Answer 1

As of 2014, the legalization effort is having high hopes. Recently, New York has agreed to the legalization of medical marijuana (not recreational use) and is the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana, however it has the strictest rules out of all states. The New York Times also called to "End Prohibition" comparing it to that of the "Alcohol Prohibition" and claims that later we'll look back and see this prohibition just as the alcohol prohibition. This was the biggest newspaper/magazine to endorse legalization of marijuana.

Marijuana is also currently legal in 2 states in the United States, and will be completely legal in Uruguay in 2015. There are many countries that already turn a "blind eye" to charges against marijuana, and many countries and states in the United States have already decriminalized marijuana.

In terms of "soon" in specific - Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. all have legalization in the air at the moment (September 2014), there was a legalization initiative that made it to the ballot in those three places. It is up to the voters in those areas to decide if it should be legalized recreationally. All three of which, have a very high chance due to recent polls and other actions that have been done in regards to marijuana to become legalized. For example, Washington D.C. just recently decriminalized weed, and Alaska was one of the first earlier on states to legalize marijuana for medicinal use (1998), California being the first (1996).

At this point, marijuana has gained a lot of momentum towards legalization, with people like the President of the United States of the America famously quoted as saying "Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol, but it's a bad idea." Also, with big newspapers/magazines in favor of legalization, this gives the momentum yet another push. Once again, the New York Times, a huge magazine/newspaper media outlet has endorsed the legalization of it, and other popular magazines such as Forbes also supports the legalization, giving it more of a push.

However, there are still opponents who do not support the legalization of marijuana. Just because marijuana has gained all this momentum in support of it, does not necessarily mean it will become legal in the near future. It is possible it may be another 20 years from now, or who knows, never!