Gallup, the leading pollster of opinions in the United States, has been tracking attitudes toward marijuana legalization since 1969, when a mere 12 percent of Americans supported it. That figure crept up to 31 percent by 2001. Then last year, Gallup reported that the country was roughly split.

And today?

"For the first time," a giddy Gallup writes, a clear majority of Americans now believe that marijuana should be legal. Fifty-eight percent of people support legalization. That's a 19-point lead over those who think it should be illegal.

I don't want to belabor this point—wait, yes, I do want to belabor this point, I want to belabor the shit out of this point because it's goddamn wonderful—but going from an even split to a 19-point lead in one year is a gigantic, rapid leap.

This is obviously the result of Colorado and Washington State legalizing pot last fall. Lots of people will probably say attitudes changed because the sky didn't fall in those states, and now voters are comfortable with da weed. Others will point out that those initiatives made pot a national issue and, thus, having the conversations promoted more support—just as ballot measures and court cases did for attitudes toward gay marriage. I think those are probably right.

But I think there's another, maybe even bigger, impact of two states legalizing pot.

People now think that legalizing pot is possible.

Legalization had seemed impossible because it wasn't happening. People didn't support it because it didn't seem realistic. The issue was waterlogged by counterculture and it never seemed to pass. But pot legalization has finally proven it's a real issue. The federal government has even given the okay to states. And now that Team Legalize is winning, people want to join the winning team. It's mainstream. So what should we do now? We should run pot initiatives in as many states as possible. It doesn't matter if we lose a few here or there—we move the dial toward legalization just by talking about it. If a measure loses in California, Oregon, Maine, Maryland, etc.—who cares?—support is accelerating faster and faster.

Pot won the war on pot.