I do not smoke marijuana. For that matter, I do not drink alcohol – or smoke anything. Despite an addiction to Mountain Dew, I am about as straight-edged as it comes. That being said, I think marijuana should be fully legalized.
In a recent survey, 44 percent of Americans said they believe marijuana should be legalized and I, too, am among them. I honestly do not see a reason for it to be illegal. It is not as dangerous as smoking cigarettes or alcohol. While your mind is in an altered state, it is on the same level as alcohol. To be frank, I have been around drunken people and high people, and while I would rather be around sober people, I would take the high people over the drunk ones any day. Read more »
SAN FRANCISCO — These are heady times for advocates of legalized marijuana in California — and only in small part because of the newly relaxed approach of the federal government toward medical marijuana.
State lawmakers are holding a hearing on Wednesday on the effects of a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate the drug — in what would be the first such law in the United States. Tax officials estimate the legislation could bring the struggling state about $1.4 billion a year, and though the bill’s fate in the Legislature is uncertain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has indicated he would be open to a “robust debate” on the issue.
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- California’s Assembly will consider lifting its 96-year-old ban on marijuana, decriminalizing the drug and taxing it like alcohol, as the state seeks ways out of its worst financial crisis since World War II.
WASHINGTON -- During his immersion in his new job, Gil Kerlikowske attended a focus group of 7-year-old girls and was mystified by their talk about "farm parties." Then he realized they meant "pharm parties" -- sampling pharmaceuticals from their parents' medicine cabinets. What he learned -- besides that young humans have less native sense than young dachshunds have -- is that his job has wrinkles unanticipated when he became director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"People," he says, "want a different conversation" about drug policies. With his first report to the president early next year, he could increase the quotient of realism.
In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the medical use of marijuana.
Clink-clink, hear-hear, salud, cheers, et cetera, et cetera.
The announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder surely comes as a relief to the many who rely on cannabis to ease suffering from various ailments. This new, relaxed approach doesn't let drug traffickers off the hook. It merely means that 14 states that now provide for some medical marijuana uses no longer need fear federal raids on dispensaries and users operating under state law.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS) -- Oakland could soon become the first city in the nation to legalize, regulate, and tax grow houses that sell medical marijuana.
Medical pot dispensaries receive such regulations, but grow houses do not. For years the houses, which are traditionally wired unsafely, have been the bane of police and fire departments.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan has been talking with dispensary managers and city staff about guidelines she expects to officially propose in the coming months that she says would ensure the grow-houses are safe and not located in residential areas.
In the chronicle of America's war against its marijuana users, conservative columnist George Will may have just earned credit for his own Walter Cronkite moment.
Appearing on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, the Pulitzer-winning journalist and longtime icon of America's political right declared that with President Barack Obama's new policy which respects the states right to allow medical marijuana, the United States is "probably in the process now of legalizing marijuana."
When an indoor public smoking ban took effect in the Netherlands in the summer of 2008, the worry wasn't so much for the one-third of Dutch adults who smoke cigarettes. Bars and restaurants went smoke-free without much problem.
A more intriguing concern was for the effect on the uniquely Dutch institution of marijuana-selling "coffee shops." If a place calls itself a coffee shop, that means three things: One, there is marijuana and hash for sale; two, for the price of a coffee, you may sit and smoke your own; and three, you will not be arrested. Read more »
By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate
October 23, 2009
For better or worse, our American Idiocracy has come to rely on athletes as national pedagogues. Michael Jordan educated the country about commitment and just doing it. A.C. Green lectured us about sexual caution. Serena Williams and John McEnroe taught us what sportsmanship is -- and is not. And Charles Barkley outlined how society should define role models.
So when a single week like this one sees both the Justice Department back states' medical marijuana laws, and a Gallup poll show record-level support for pot legalization, we can look to two superjocks -- Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps -- for the key lesson about our absurd drug policy. Read more »
ScienceDaily — Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia in young people. But the evidence for the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis remains controversial. A new study has determined that it may be necessary to stop thousands of cannabis users in order to prevent a single case of schizophrenia. Read more »
Welcome to WhyProhibition.ca. We are working to repeal the prohibition of cannabis by organizing and educating the public. Sign up to get activism alerts, and access to organizing tools.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS) -- Oakland could soon become the first city in the nation to legalize, regulate, and tax grow houses that sell medical marijuana. 
In the chronicle of America's war against its marijuana users, conservative columnist George Will may have just earned credit for his own 
