The great pot experiment
Legalising a drug is harder than it looks
SINCE late 2012, two states have voted to legalise marijuana for recreational use; licensed shops in Colorado and Washington now sell it to anyone who wants it. Six states have legalised the drug for medicinal use, bringing the total to 23. Most Americans now say they favour legalisation (see chart 1). The House of Representatives has voted to defund federal raids of medical-marijuana facilities in states that allow them. Serious newspapers (though not, alas, this one) have appointed pot critics. And an Oklahoma state senator has campaigned to legalise the drug because in Genesis 1:29, “God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed...upon the face of all the earth’.”
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "The great pot experiment"
From the July 12th 2014 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
America’s federal district courts may soon be harder to manipulate
For once Democrats and (some) Republicans see eye-to-eye on judicial reform
Joe Biden is practising some Clintonian politics
But he needs to do more than crack down on “junk fees” to woo swing voters