I have been watching the most-recent brouhaha over national (or nationalized, if you prefer) heath care grip the country. Whether you are pro or con, EVERYONE must admit one thing: This is a significant increase in federal government power. It is just one area where federal government power has increased, along with policing, military affairs, food regulation, etc., etc.

We all can agree that, for the time being, the federal government has no plans to consider drug decriminalization or legalization. The status quo will be with us for the foreseeable future and likely beyond.

This begs the question: Are drug legalization advocates focusing their efforts in the wrong place by working so hard in the USA? This is a legitimate question on my part to which I have no answer. I do believe, however, that prospects for legalization would be better in a place where the writ of the central government was not so powerful. A smaller place or smaller government unit (county, province, canton, etc.) that is self-sufficient and that exercises self-policing would be a better prospect for showing whether legalization can and would work. Should we focus our energies on identifying such places and experimenting there first?

Just a thought, but I think an important one. Help me to identify such places.