Last November, two states, Colorado and Washington, voted to legalize and regulate marijuana–a direct challenge to federal policy under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Other states may follow suit. Now the Obama administration, the states and Congress face a series of legal and political choices that will determine whether some degree of orderly cooperation is possible. Can confrontation be avoided, or at least minimized? If not, what are the implications?

On April 15, Governance Studies at Brookings and the Washington Office on Latin America hosted a public forum with two leading scholars and two key politicians to examine the options and weigh the stakes.