US Is Legalizing Marijuana “On The Quiet”
the420times | Nov 05, 2009 | Comments 0
Nov. 1, 2009 — An article from the UK edition of Times Magazine gives its perspective regarding marijuana policy in the United States, noting that legal marijuana may be closer than we think.
On the quiet, the US is legalising marijuana
The humble joint can save lives. We look forward to the end of senseless prohibition
You know things are shifting in America when Fortune magazine, the bible for business journalism, runs a cover story titled “Is pot already legal?”. You also know it when Barack Obama’s Department of Justice publishes a long-expected memo signalling that the federal government will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries if they are legal under state law. That happened formally this month.
It was not, moreover, a symbolic gesture. Marijuana for medical reasons — to tackle chemotherapy-induced nausea or Aids-related wasting or glaucoma, among other conditions — is now legal in 13 states, including the biggest, California. Next year, 13 more states are planning referendums or new laws following suit. Last week a California legislative committee held the first hearings not simply on whether medical marijuana should remain legal, but on whether all marijuana should be decriminalised, full stop. The incentive? The vast amounts of money the bankrupt state could raise by taxing cannabis.
Read the full story at Timesonline.co.uk.
Filed Under: Medical Marijuana News
