It's happening, it's just happening quietly.
You know things are shifting in America when Fortune magazine, the bible for business journalism, runs a cover story titled "Is pot already legal?". You also know it when Barack Obama's Department of Justice publishes a long-expected memo signalling that the federal government will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries if they are legal under state law. Marijuana for medical reasons -- to tackle chemotherapy-induced nausea or Aids-related wasting or glaucoma, among other conditions -- is now legal in 13 states, including the biggest, California. Next year, 13 more states are planning referendums or new laws following suit. Last week a California legislative committee held the first hearings not simply on whether medical marijuana should remain legal, but on whether all marijuana should be decriminalised, full stop. The incentive? The vast amounts of money the bankrupt state could raise by taxing cannabis.
In 1970, 84% of Americans supported keeping marijuana illegal. Today, that number has collapsed to 54%. The proportion believing that marijuana should be legal has gone from 18% at the end of the 1960s to 44% today.
The concentration of THC, the active compound, is much higher now than in the past. But since no one has ever overdosed on marijuana, it's difficult to say why that matters. Yes, if someone has a history of mental illness, it's not that smart to experiment with the cannabinoid receptors in the brain. But it isn't smart for such people to take any drugs -- or too much alcohol -- for that matter. For most people, stronger pot merely translates into a need for less of it to get the same effect. Too much and you'll likely nod off -- and wake up later with no hangover. If pubs served pot rather than beer, crime rates would plummet.
In 1970, 84% of Americans supported keeping marijuana illegal. Today, that number has collapsed to 54%. The proportion believing that marijuana should be legal has gone from 18% at the end of the 1960s to 44% today.
The concentration of THC, the active compound, is much higher now than in the past. But since no one has ever overdosed on marijuana, it's difficult to say why that matters. Yes, if someone has a history of mental illness, it's not that smart to experiment with the cannabinoid receptors in the brain. But it isn't smart for such people to take any drugs -- or too much alcohol -- for that matter. For most people, stronger pot merely translates into a need for less of it to get the same effect. Too much and you'll likely nod off -- and wake up later with no hangover. If pubs served pot rather than beer, crime rates would plummet.