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A senior aide for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was arrested Tuesday for attempting to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building, according to U.S. Capitol Police reports.

While California's marijuana ballot initiative is garnering a lot of attention this election cycle, Gallup finds that nationally, a new high of 46% of Americans are in favor of legalizing use of the drug, and a new low of 50% are opposed. The increase in support this year from 44% in 2009 is not statistically significant, but is a continuation of the upward trend seen since 2000.

Elected officials take notice: support for drug policy reform, and even legalizing marijuana, is no detriment on the campaign trail -- and in fact it can be a key asset to electoral success. Last night The Colbert Report picked up on a trend that has bubbled up in the past year -- candidates are winning elections by supporting drug policy reform.

An amendment to the financial overhaul bill banning the use of taxpayer funds for bank bailouts has been agreed upon in the Senate, says the LA Times.

"If there's one thing we should all be able to agree on, it is this: The American taxpayers should never again have to bail out Wall Street firms that gambled away our savings and wreaked havoc on our economy," said Barbara Boxer (D-CA,) the senator who proposed the amendment.

Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US ~ California may back new state debt with marijuana taxes if proposition 19 legalizing the drug passes, according Amy Resnick of Bond Buyer.

Resnick cites attendees at California Public Finances Conference who are suggesting the market would accept the plan, if it is legalized.

California voters have a chance on this November's ballot to bring common sense to law enforcement by legalizing marijuana for adults. As San Jose's retired chief of police and a cop with 35 years experience on the front lines in the war on marijuana, I'm voting yes.

A concentrated preponderance of the voters countrywide are showing their passion for legalizing and regulating marijuana comparable to the manner in which alcohol and cigarettes are presently controlled. As the polls show most US citizens don’t believe smoking marijuana should be a crime for people to consume within the discretion of their own homes. A recent nationwide study of would be electorates showed that 56 percent favor the outright marijuana legalization, along with a strict regulating of the marijuana industry.

A small city in Northern California has sharply reduced the number of citations, and the number of accidents there has dropped as well. Are tickets simply overused? (YES!)

2012 has only just begun and it is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting and active years for marijuana law reform in some time. More than a dozen state legislatures are currently considering reform measures in some respect and 8 states are attempting to put legalization initiatives before voters this November