Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado--is this happening?

Last night while waiting for The Daily Show to begin, my mother and sister and I were sitting idlely around the television flipping between channels.  I then witnessed something that I had to confirm with my company out loud because I could not believe that it was real.

The scene was a coffee shop; a woman, perhaps in her forties, held a mug in one hand and gesticulated with the other:  "It's not that I like it--personally--but it's time for a conversation about legalizing marijuana."

"What?  Is this happening?" I kept asking.  "Is this real?"

"Yup," my sister confirmed.

It is real: commercials airing for the legalization of marijuana in the state of Colorado, funded by the Citizens of Responsible Legalization.  The issue to legalize marijuana is scheduled to be on the ballot this November.  The issue has appeared on the Colorado ballot before, and did not pass by a slim margin.

I should tell you something about the city in which I reside, to account for my shock.  Colorado is this bizarre dichotomy.  On one side of the spectrum, you have super conservative groups based here: Colorado Springs alone is home to 3 military bases, the Air Force Academy, Focus on the Family, New Life Church; we're this hub (and shelter) for religious fundamentalism (very near to my home is a street that my siblings and I grew up calling Church Street because one intersection is flanked by 3 churches; go down the street and there is another).  A Christian writer's guilde is based here in the Springs, as well.  The seeds of fundamentalism are scattered throughout the state, but the nexus is here, in my town. 

On the other side of the spectrum, there is this a plucky, indepedent streak, especially observed in people up the Pass and in mountainous areas that harkens back to tough-skinned settlers and miners that account to no one but themselves and their beautiful surroundings, surroundings that deeply resonated with folk singer John Denver, whom penned our state song; it's these people who devoutly foster alternative lifestyles. 

And somewhere in the midst of all this culture clash, you get the sense of refined society (like in Downtown Colorado Springs and much of Denver), cultured "progressives" whom value the arts and education and are receptive to the plight of immigrants' children.  There is a strong sense of genuine intelluctualism around research college Colorado State University, in Fort Collins. 

This area surprises me all of the time.  So I'm still a little stupified that this commercial would get airplay here, but I believe that it's time is due; my mother teaches at a high school, and I used to work with teens at a library, and so if you hang out around teens, you will know exactly how this generation feels about marijuana.  In my lifetime, if not this year, Colorado will see the legalization of marijuana.

And now for your viewing pleasure (or perhaps cultural nostalgia), follow the link to John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High," the state song of Colorado.