Good points all. Unfortunately, as for changing the mindset toward drugs, I think the change would probably a pretty laborious and slow; at least in the case of those substances that currently carry massive legal penalties. The big brother policies and insane amounts of capital that have gone into the drug war all the way from the Federal government on down to local law enforcement and Hollywood along the way have really done a number on people's perceptions. And that's not even touching on the vast and powerful vested interests who don't want to see anything change.

I think the states that have legalized recreational cannabis are setting an important precedent and generating valuable data to counterbalance the general baseless hysteria that opponents of legalization embrace.

I think the real change will come from the bottom up and not from the top down. Historically, that's generally how change has happened in the US and the rest of the world in in regard to all kinds of issues. What makes the US different is the transparency and structured openness to change. But it takes a critical mass of informed people taking action in a coordinated way to make things happen.

Despite many believing that we are increasingly more disempowered I actually think the opposite may be true. In today's world of online connectivity it has never been easier to coordinate minds and motivation across geographic space. I also like to believe that emerging blockchain platforms will help augment this even further.