Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.This is one step in the right direction towards legalizing and regulating the substance. If you're interested in the latest on this fight, the Marijuana Policy Project has a great website with news on both the federal and state levels.
Why I think marijuana should be legalized (in a nutshell):
- It is a natural, fairly benign substance which arguably does less harm than tobacco or alcohol.
- In fact, for people with chronic pain - like my mother - it can help more than it harms.
- If regulated, any harmful ingredients currently in the market could be reduced or eliminated.
- It frees state resources up to pursue the truly harmful, dangerous drugs that are out there (which arguably also should be legalized, but I'd like to see how the legalization of marijuana would go first).
- Along the lines of the previous point, frees up our court system from persecuting petty criminals who deal only in marijuana.
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