The economic downturn, efforts to redirect law-enforcement and court and prison resources, and a need to grapple with the drug-related violence perpetrated by Mexico's drug cartels are all fueling an examination of the merits of legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana, the San Francisco Chronicle reported April 12.

This confluence of social and economic factors is prompting a political change in attitudes, experts say. Statements by pundits like Glenn Beck of Fox News and CNN's Jack Cafferty, each of whom has publicly questioned the billions spent each year fighting the war on drugs, have added to the national debate.

"It's a combination of all these things coming together at once and producing that 'aha' moment," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

A recent Rasmussen poll showed 40 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, with 46 percent opposed and 14 percent saying they are unsure. A new California poll by Oakland EMC Research revealed that, for the first time, a majority of state voters (54 percent) say the drug should be legalized, compared with 39 percent opposed.

"Part of the explanation is people's good feelings about medical marijuana," said Alex Evans, president and founder of EMC. Evans also pointed to Baby Boomers' "own personal experience with cannabis" and their belief that "there's not much difference between that and alcohol . . . It is leading them to support more of a tax-and-regulate attitude."

Opponents have expressed concerns that making marijuana legal will compound addiction issues, that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to use of harder drugs, and that legalization would send the wrong message to children.

But some California lawmakers contend that it makes sense to at least investigate marijuana regulation and taxation. "To continue to outlaw it and not tax it is really to keep one's head in the sand, as if we can pretend and it will go away," said state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). "Minimally, I'm hoping we take a look at the billions of dollars we've spent on the war on drugs: Have we gotten our money's worth?"