Smoking pot doesn’t cause schizophrenia, but marijuana as an issue sure gives our political system the symptoms. We have just elected our third president in a row who at least tried marijuana in early adulthood, yet it remains illegal. As we discovered again this week, President Obama, like his two predecessors, supports imprisoning people for making the same choices he made. Beyond imprisonment, one of my policy students, who was honest on a security clearance about her one time use of pot, could lose her job for doing what Clinton, Bush and Obama did. On television, leading comedian Jon Stewart and America’s sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, swap pot smoking stories with lighthearted abandon, laughing along with their audience, who, like most Americans, end up voting for politicians who support draconian punishments for pot users and dealers. Year after year, major Hollywood films like Pineapple Express show potsmoking in a positive light, yet legalization remains unmentionable to both our political parties. And America’s most popular Olympian, Michael Phelps, like the majority of people his age, has tried pot, but loses millions in sponsorship when it is revealed that he has done what most of his fans have done. […]
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Marijuana Issue Suddenly Smoking Hot
Author: JEREMY D. MAYER
Source: Politico
Publication Date: 3/29/09 7:25 AM EDT
Link: Marijuana Issue Suddenly Smoking Hot
Source: Politico
Publication Date: 3/29/09 7:25 AM EDT
Link: Marijuana Issue Suddenly Smoking Hot
Stephan: I am tired of my country being so much less than it could be, and should be. Our national psychosis concerning marijuana, is one reason we have 25 per cent of the world's known prison population. Such hypocrisies create cancers which are devouring the healthy tissue of our society from the inside out, and they are all interconnected, and interdependent.
This is an issue in which Obama has shown less than valiant leadership. Smarmy jokes are not what is needed.
Jeremy D. Mayer is the author of 'American Media Politics in Transition' (McGraw Hill, 2007) and an associate professor and director of the master's program in public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.