The drug cartels, which our laws unintentionally created, offer Plato o Plomo. Here’s the better bargain: End the weed war and watch as responsible and freeborn citizens find successful means to contain marijuana use creatively.

Recently reported numbers from Colorado strongly reinforce the old limited-government advocates’ wisdom: In the three months since the state effectively legalized marijuana, violent crime dropped 5.6 percent while property crimes plummeted 11.9 percent. Can we now at least admit that highly intensified law enforcement can yield the opposite of its intended effects?

Didn’t we already know that?

Predictably, as polls show Americans by large margins support legalization, the weed warriors ignore the terrible toll taken by the war’s continuation. Instead, they find new studies (funny how these inevitably pop up) showing how marijuana is now ten times (or pick your multiplying factor) more potent than when we boomers were toking our way to perdition.