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New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a de facto legalization of pot in his state. If approved by the legislature, New York will have one less reason (a very large one less) to arrest people and lock them up.

Wading into the debate over stop-and-frisk police tactics, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.

The governor will call for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, administration officials said. Advocates of such a change say the offense has ensnared tens of thousands of young black and Latino men who are stopped by the New York City police for other reasons but after being instructed to empty their pockets, find themselves charged with a crime.

At this point it looks like the feds and the Obama administration still want to continue their silly "war on drugs." However, for the states, which are forced to bear much of the cost of enforcing these policies, the price has gotten too high.

Legalization is coming either one state at a time, or it's Obama's campaign ace in the hole, to be played only if and only when necessary.