Federal Scientists Recommend Easing Restrictions on Marijuana

THE NEW YORK TIMES: In newly disclosed documents, federal researchers find that cannabis may have medical uses and is less likely to cause harm than drugs like heroin.

Marijuana is neither as risky nor as prone to abuse as other tightly controlled substances and has potential medical benefits, and therefore should be removed from the nation’s most restrictive category of drugs, federal scientists have concluded.

The recommendations are contained in a 250-page scientific review provided to Matthew Zorn, a Texas lawyer who sued Health and Human Services officials for its release and published it online on Friday night. An H.H.S. official confirmed the authenticity of the document.

The records shed light for the first time on the thinking of federal health officials who are pondering a momentous change. The agencies involved have not publicly commented on their debates over what amounts to a reconsideration of marijuana at the federal level.

Since 1970, marijuana has been considered a so-called Schedule I drug, a category that also includes heroin. Schedule I drugs have no medical use and a high potential for abuse, and they carry severe criminal penalties under federal trafficking laws.

The documents show that scientists at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration make marijuana a Schedule III drug, alongside the likes of ketamine and testosterone, which are available by prescription. » | Christina Jewett and Noah Weiland | Friday, January 12, 2024

We are certainly living in a topsy-turvy world! Despite the war on cigarette-smoking and tobacco, the West seems to be determined to ease all restrictions on soft drugs like marijuana. I have never ever tried marijuana or any other similar substance in my not-so-short life. I have never been tempted to do so. Such substances have never appealed to me. What I used to enjoy was smoking cigarettes. But the government has increased the prices of cigarettes so much now that their price are totally out of proportion with the pleasure gained from smoking them. A packet of quality cigarettes in the UK now is extortionately expensive. Moreover, there are so many laws governing where one can enjoy a puff that it is virtually impossible to enjoy a smoke outside of one's own home at all! These are the reasons why I quit smoking in 2022. I would never have quit otherwise, because smoking was a source of great pleasure for me.

It is therefore rather annoying that I have been deprived of one of my great pleasures when governments around the West are busy making it far easier to enjoy a substance that has traditionally been frowned upon. I am damn sure that the recreational use of marijuana is NOT healthier than smoking a conventional cigarette. Actually, there are health benefits to smoking cigarettes in moderation; and that is a fact! If you don't believe me, google it! You'll be surprised. – © Mark Alexander

Marijuana Majority

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Americans support marijuana legalization, but many of their political leaders do not.

A decade ago, no American lived in a state where marijuana was legal to smoke, vape or eat recreationally. Today, nearly half of Americans do or will soon: Voters approved legalization ballot measures this month in Maryland and Missouri, bringing the number of states allowing any adult use to 21.

Legalization may not make major news often anymore, but it’s a big deal. It amounts to America’s largest change to its drug policy in decades. By aligning marijuana with alcohol and tobacco, rather than harder drugs, the policy change is giving birth to a new industry. And, over time, it could reduce the hundreds of thousands of marijuana arrests made in the U.S. every year, freeing up police resources.

The change came about largely because of the support of voters, not politicians or lawmakers. While the public backs legalization, some prominent political leaders do not: President Biden has said he’s opposed. Donald Trump has characterized legalization as an issue for states to decide, but his 2020 presidential campaign said marijuana should remain illegal. » | German Lopez | The Morning | Wednesday, November 23, 2022

How New York City Became a Free-for-All of Unlicensed Weed: Shops selling weed have proliferated since the state legalized cannabis last year, thriving in confusion over their legality and a lack of enforcement. »

Canada : The Authorities Have Lost Their Minds!

With many thanks to Klaus Becker on Pinterest for this super photograph.
The Canadian government legalized the smoking of cannabis/marijuana three years ago; yet they are introducing ever more stringent laws against the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Clearly, these laws are redolent of a Nanny State. How stupid can people get? This means that you can legally get stoned out of your mind, yet enjoying a humble cigarette is becoming ever more difficult. How nonsensical is that? I had always thought that Canadians were smarter than this. Obviously, I was mistaken. – © Mark Alexander

The pros, cons and unknowns of legal cannabis in Canada 3 years later: Legalization has had a positive effect on the justice system, but public health data is lacking, experts say »

Written warning on every cigarette in Canadian world-first: Poison in every puff’ message proposed amid government concern photo warnings on tobacco packages have lost impact »

The 'Unwinnable War': Should Marijuana Be Legalised in Australia? | 60 Minutes Australia

Jan 13, 2022 – It is our biggest cash crop and worth a fortune - $5 billion a year. The massive resources used to eradicate it are also costing us a fortune. Marijuana is virtually impossible to avoid in this country. Nearly 50% of Australians say they have tried it or regularly use it. Marijuana sales are twice what Australians spend on wine. Millions indulge and millions of dollars are spent trying to wipe it out. In the hills surrounding Nimbin, on the north coast of New South Wales, Richard Carleton accompanied the police on a series of helicopter raids. It is a fight that has all the trappings of war - armed police, state of the art machinery and sophisticated battle plans. Yet, if it is a war, many also believe that it is simply unwinnable.

It makes no sense to me to make smoking tobacco, cigarettes, the bête noire of our day and charge an arm and a leg for a packet of twenty—here in the UK, a packet of twenty Marlboro Reds currently costs £12.50!—yet they want to legalize and make the smoking of cannabis legal! Go figure! When I smoke a cigarette, it does not bend my mind; it simply gives me pleasure. The same cannot be said for marijuana. Enough already! – © Mark

How Neighboring States Struggle When Pot Becomes Legal

Since recreational marijuana became legally available in Colorado last year, officials say more pot is illegally coming through the border of states like Nebraska and Oklahoma, draining state resources as the number of arrests keeps growing. Now, the attorneys general of those states filed a federal lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to declare Colorado's marijuana law unconstitutional.

Legal Weed Comes to California

California will become the eighth state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana in 2018. The new law however, is raising a lot of questions for the state's users -- and producers -- of the drug. CBS News correspondent Carter Evans reports from Los Angeles, where only a handful of dispensaries will be ready to hit the ground running in the new year.

Bishop Ron Allen: Pot Legalization a Sad Day for California

Former drug addict has a warning for the state on 'Fox & Friends.'

Marijuana! Is It Actually Good For You? [Dangers!] | Louder With Crowder

Is Marijuana actually good for you? We sat down for a full-length interview with Dr. Phyllis Bonafice, MD in neuropsychiatry to get to the bottom of it.

Le Canada va légaliser le cannabis

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le Canada compte adopter des lois «qui légaliseront et règlementeront la consommation de marijuana».

Le candidat Justin Trudeau l'avait promis. Désormais élu, il le confirme ce 4 décembre 2015 dans son discours de politique générale pour 2016, lu au Parlement par le Gouverneur général du Canada. Le cannabis sera légalisé.

Le Canada devient ainsi le premier pays du G7 à légaliser cette drogue douce.

Le nouveau gouvernement libéral, élu le 19 octobre, souhaite ainsi adopter au cours de la prochaine année des «mesures législatives (...) qui légaliseront et réglementeront la consommation de marijuana et limiteront l'accès à cette substance», a dit le Gouverneur général, David Johnston, en lisant le discours préparé par M. Trudeau, assis à ses côtés dans la Chambre des communes. » | afp/nxp | vendredi 4. Décembre 2015

The Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Do I Seem Like I Smoke Marijuana?"

The Great Marijuana Ruse

Jul. 28, 2014 - 8:29 - Talking Points 7/28

Did Pot Legalization Do More Harm Than Good In Colorado?

Apr. 06, 2014 - 3:58 - Increase in violence, black market

Consequences of Marijuana Legalization

Mar. 12, 2014 - 4:45 - Patrick Kennedy and Christopher Kennedy Lawford on the dangers of marijuana legalization

Inside Story: US Marijuana: Pot Luck or Politics?

As Barack Obama says the drug is no more dangerous than alcohol, we ask if American society is ready for legalisation.

Obama Says Marijuana Is a Bad Habit But Minorities Are Unfairly Punished

THE GUARDIAN: • 'I don't think it's more dangerous than alcohol' says president
• Colorado and Washington have decriminalised pot use

President Barack Obama believes smoking marijuana is a "bad habit" but thinks legal penalties now fall disproportionately on minorities and that states legalising pot should go ahead with their plans, he said in a profile released on Sunday.

"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life," he is quoted as saying in a New Yorker magazine article. "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."

The president said he has told his two daughters that smoking marijuana is "a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy".

However, he said he is concerned that marijuana-related arrests fall far more heavily on minorities than on others. Legalisation of pot should go forward in the states of Colorado and Washington because "it's important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished," he said. » | Reuters in Washington | Sunday, January 19, 2014

Uruguay Becomes First Country in the World to Legalise Marijuana Trade

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Backers of the law, some smoking joints, gathered near Congress holding green balloons and Jamaican flags in homage to Bob Marley

Uruguay has become the first country to legalise the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana, a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization.

A government-sponsored bill approved by 16-13 votes in the Senate provides for regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals in the small South American nation.

Backers of the law, some smoking joints, gathered near Congress holding green balloons, Jamaican flags in homage to Bob Marley and a sign saying: "Cultivating freedom, Uruguay grows."

Cannabis consumers will be able to buy a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) each month from licensed pharmacies as long as they are Uruguayan residents over the age of 18 and registered on a government database that will monitor their monthly purchases.

When the law is implemented in 120 days, Uruguayans will be able to grow six marijuana plants in their homes a year, or as much as 480 grams (about 17 ounces), and form smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that can grow up to 99 plants per year. Read on and comment » | Reuters | Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Marijuana Legalization, Same-sex Marriage Win Big
Historic changes made in social policy at the ballot box

US Election: America Goes Liberal with Gay Marriage, Abortion and Cannabis Votes

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: US states backed legalising marijuana for recreational use, allowing gay marriage and rejected a call to ban public funding for abortions, in a swathe of state-wide ballots Tuesday.

The generally liberal moves were decided among more than 170 ballot initiatives and referendums held across the country, as it re-elected Democratic President Barack Obama for four more years.

Mr Obama came out in favor of gay marriage months before the election which pitted him against Republican rival Mitt Romney, who insists that marriage should be reserved for a relationship between a man and a woman.

During his first four-year term Mr Obama had also fulfilled a pledge to repeal the controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) law banning openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the US military.


Three states voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, including Maine - which voted in a referendum against it in 2009, but reversed that decision with 54 percent in favor to 46 percent against.

Washington state and Maryland also appeared set to approve the move, which had already been passed by state lawmakers. Both states voted 52-48 percent in favor, according to CNN projections based on partial results. » Source: AFP | Wednesday, November 07, 2012