Commentary: Schmoke still backs marijuana legalization but urges caution

The support that Maryland voters gave to Question 4, the cannabis legalization issue, reminded me that major policy change often happens in a way that feels more like running a marathon, rather than a hundred-yard dash. Back in the last century, as my students like to say — actually, it was 1988 — I gave a speech to a joint meeting of big-city mayors and chiefs of police in which I proposed that the country should consider the decriminalization of drugs, including cannabis. The overwhelming response to that speech was a combination of scorn, derision and dismissiveness.