With the passage of Amendment 64 in November 2012, Colorado made history and became one of the first two states to approve legal regulation of the cultivation, manufacture and sale of marijuana for adults 21 and over. Colorado has become a proving ground to demonstrate the positive impacts of regulation instead of prohibition – and hopefully will promote similar efforts elsewhere.

Despite warnings from legalization opponents, Colorado looks pretty much the same as ever since regulation, if not better. Crime is down, the economy is sound, and there remains strong overall support for legalization throughout the state. Even the state’s Director of Marijuana Coordination was quick to note recently that “the sky hasn’t fallen” since the first retail shops opened on January 1st.

Though it is far too early to make any definitive declarations about emerging social trends, there are some promising indications that things are moving in the right direction here in Colorado:

Despite a long history of government efforts to obstruct marijuana science, we now have decades of proof that the plant itself is far less harmful than its prohibition. Colorado and Washington have already changed the dialogue about drug prohibition throughout the U.S. and around the world.

This article is from the Drug Policy Alliance .