Rep. Jared Polis: Marijuana legalization now 'mainstream' in the Democratic Party

The legalization of marijuana is no longer a fringe issue within the Democratic Party, according to one U.S. congressman from Colorado.

Rep. Jared Polis (D) said last week at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference 2013 that most Democrats now approved of changing the nation's marijuana laws.

"When I first got [to Congress]... there were a number of us who talked about it and of course a brave few Republicans -- Ron Paul and others -- who talked about it," he said. "Fast forward to where we are today five years later, it has become a mainstream position in my party, the Democratic Party."

When the House held a vote to defund prosecutions of federal marijuana offenses in states that had legalized the drug, more than three quarters of Democrats supported the proposal, Polis said.

"And we still have a brave band of Republicans, whether they are for states' rights or individual liberty, we have a brave band of Republicans, a new generation of tea party supporters and others who've replaced Ron Paul and work with us on all these issues," he continued.

Polis said it was only a matter of time before elected officials began to accept drug policy reforms, now that .

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