If you want to get past the boilerplate arguments for legalizing pot and instead get a glimpse into the strategy for actually doing it, then you should go to Town Hall tonight. An ACLU-sponsored forum called "Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading?" pulls together a lineup of the most important players in drug policy reform in the U.S.

It starts at 7:00 p.m. and it's FREE.

The quote in the headline comes from Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who was just about to board plane to Seattle when I reached him. He has been among the leading architects of the drug-policy reform movement for the last 15 years (the years that the issue got mainstream traction). Nadelmann says he hopes California will be the first state to legalize marijuana—Prop 19 is on the ballot this November but is facing harsh opposition—however, if that fails, "It would be great to see Washington be the first."

The speakers tonight include Nadelmann along with travel host and legalization crusader Rick Steves, NORML founder Keith Stroup, Marijuana Policy Project director Rob Kampia, ACLU of Washington drug policy director Alison Holcomb, and Washington state Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles.

"It is not going to be easy to get from where we are now to winning this thing," Nadelmann says. "The more elevated the discussion, the more knowledgeable our allies, the more sophisticated the understanding of various strategies, the more likely we are to win sooner than later. "