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Two states within the past year have legalized recreational use of Marijuana: Colorado and Washington. In both, the financial infrastructure of legalization is in its infant stages with investors pouring money and banks agreeing to accept profits.

But such mundane infrastructural steps were unthinkable just a few years ago when pot was seen as far more dangerous than legal vices like alcohol.

Today, thanks to an intense educational campaign, the US has come closer than ever to legalizing marijuana, and the fight is happening at the state and federal level, and also in the public, as evidenced by CNN’s popular Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently issuing a mea culpa on his past position against cannabis.

Having tried and failed at a variety of strategies to successfully overturn laws prohibiting marijuana use, activists and advocates have hit upon a winning formula: simply point out the fact that alcohol engenders far more public violence than marijuana and that having the option to use marijuana instead could lead to a society that is not just less criminalized, but also potentially safer.

GUEST: Steve Fox, Director of Government Relations at Marijuana Policy Project