Sunday, July 27, 2014

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIALIZES IN A BIG WAY FOR LEGAL POT

A big story of the media day is The New York Times taking a big, firm stand in favor of legalizing marijuana, calling for a repeal of federal anti-pot laws.

In the first of a string of editorials to be published this week, the Times pushes for the repeal and for state-by-state oversight, declaring in part:

It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. 

The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.
We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times’s Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws. 

There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.

Read the rest HERE.