By Matt Ferner | The Huffington Post
Two states with legal recreational use. Twenty more that allow medical use. Record-high support at the national level for more permissive policies. It seems fair to say that the United States’ official stance on marijuana is shifting quickly. In fact, one congressman is predicting that U.S. pot prohibition will be a thing of the past before the end of the decade.
“I think it’s game over in less than five years,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said Monday during an interview with The Huffington Post.
“There’s no question that we’re likely to see another state or two this year legalizing [recreational] use,” Blumenauer said. “We’re going to see more medical marijuana progress. The crazy prohibitions on bank services and probably the tax disparities — these are all eroding.”
As of now, 20 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and voters in Colorado and Washington have approved marijuana for recreational use. About a dozen more states are expected to legalize marijuana in some form over the next several years. One recent study has projected a $10 billion legal marijuana industry by 2018.
