Marijuana News 4/20/15: Gateway Drugs, Chris Christie & Obama
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April 20. Ahh, yes, April 20. 4/20. Cannabis appreciation day in our book. Here’s are roundup of the best marijuana news segments of the day.
What you'll learn in this post:
[Click any of the section titles below to jump there]
Washington Post Shreds “Gateway Drug” Label
Today, the Washington Post took a hard look at the theory that Marijuana is ‘gateway drug’ leading to use of harder substances. Although that theory was first introduced in 1937, it has yet to be verified by any legitimate research. If anything, increased access to marijuana seems to lower rates of opiate overdoses.
Read it here: Washington Post
Christie Out of Step with His Own Party
New Jersey Governor and possible presidential candidate Chris Christie made headlines last week when he asserted that legalizing pot would open a Pandora’s box of drug use across the country. He may have been hoping to energize his base in light of slipping poll numbers, but the opposite seems to be occurring.
Reason, a Libertarian magazine, calls Christie out on his unrealistic assertion that the federal government could stop state-licensed marijuana business. With California likely joining the list of states repealing marijuana prohibition, it would be almost impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.
A Pew poll conducted last month shows that a majority of Americans (59%) believe the Federal Government should not interfere with states that allow marijuana sales. Even more disconcerting for the Republican governor, 54% of Republicans also believe the Fed should have a hands off approach when it comes to legal cannabis. Stay tuned to see if Christie ‘evolves’ on the issue as most of the country has done.
Read it here: Forbes
Obama Supports Legalizing Medicinal Cannabis
In a CNN documentary Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution that aired last night, Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke with President Barack Obama about medicinal and recreational marijuana.
Obama elaborated on his support for medicinal cannabis:
“I’m on record as saying that not only do I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology on this issue, but I’m also on record as saying that the more we treat some of these issues related to drug abuse from a public health model and not just from an incarceration model, the better off we’re going to be.”
He also read the (pot) tea leaves and sees more states legalizing marijuana is an inevitability.
Happy 4/20 from Nugg!