Several days ago in my Facebook news feed I saw a photo of a most unlikely pair, right-wing Christian evangelist Pat Robertson and left-wing comedian Bill Maher. The caption superimposed onto the photo read: What do Bill Maher, Pat Robertson, and most Americans agree on? It's time to legalize marijuana.

It's true that for the first time since the cannabis plant was made illegal in 1937, according to recent Gallup polls, a record-high majority of Americans (50 percent) now supports the complete legalization of this botanical mischief maker, and a full 86 percent support its medical use. Despite the U.S. government's stubborn and draconian policy on marijuana, cannabis legalization supporters are now the majority.

This powerful collective voice was demonstrated in the recent elections, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize, tax and regulate cannabis for recreational use. A record number of people — about 125 million to 203 million — around the world now use cannabis, and support for its legalization has never been higher, as, hands down, cannabis users are the single-most persecuted minority on the planet.

Nonetheless, more and more truthful information about the herb's safety and accurate information about its medical properties are replacing years of government propaganda, and scientific discoveries about the newly-discovered medical properties of cannabis are frequently make the headlines. It seems that that long-awaited end of cannabis prohibition is finally within sight. If we were living in a true democracy, instead of representative government, cannabis would be legal in America today.

The "War on Drugs," which now appears to be politically or racially motivated, to even the dullest of minds, has largely been a war on marijuana users and growers, especially those who are of African or Hispanic descent, and the Drug Enforcement Agency has systematically attempted to block any scientific studies on cannabis that demonstrate the herb's safety or medical merit.

Despite the findings from three government investigations into the safety, dangers, and medical efficacy of cannabis, which demonstrated that cannabis represents no health threat and has valuable medical benefits, every occupant of the Oval Office since Richard Nixon (with the exception of Jimmy Carter) has ignored these findings, and has sought to increase legal penalties for cannabis users.

As a result, America has now imprisoned more of its own citizens than any other nation on Earth. The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, and there are currently 6 million Americans in jail. According to "Incarceration Nation" columnist Fareed Zakaria, this is more prisoners than there were in Stalin's Gulag. However, it seems that the viscous and barbaric war on marijuana users may finally be coming to end. There are hopeful signs everywhere that cannabis prohibition is following alcohol prohibition into the trash bin of failed government policies.