Nevertheless, whereas only a smattering of political leaders and intellectuals advocated legalization in the past, nowadays officials are coming “out of the closet” on drugs in droves. Those who used to say that they favored a debate on the issue now support legalization; those who opposed it now accept the need for debate; and those who continue to oppose legalization do so on moral, rather than rational, grounds.
数周前，奥巴马派副总统拜登前往墨西哥和中美洲阻止这一趋势，或许已经取得了一定的承销。但是，尽管历史上只有少数政治领导人和知识分子支持合法化，时至今日，在毒品问题上，大量官员正在“出柜”——以前反对合法化者现在认为这一问题值得讨论；即使仍然反对合法化，也大多是出于道德考虑，而不是出于道理和理性。