Marijuana and The Wall Street Journal
The mighty Wall Street Journal (my favorite newspaper) has been hopping with pot talk lately. What's the Voice of Capitalism coming to?
It started with an editorial page commentary on March 16 by constitutional expert Randy E. Barnett called "Reefer Madness". It was a learned assessment by Professor Barnett on how the federal courts go through constitutional contortions in maintaining the prohibition on medical uses of marijuana. The commentary was keyed by the Angel Raich story.
On March 23 there were four letters in response. If you are a Journal reader, you know that's a lot for any one commentary, meaning there were probably hundreds that didn't get printed. There were letters from organizations "Common Sense for Drug Policy" and "Marijuana Policy Project" decrying criminalization of a useful drug. President Carter's drug czar Lee Dogoloff weighed in - saying "every major" scientist says there is no medical benefit. Old arguments redux, but articulate and passionate.
Not to let a smokin' subject drop, today's WSJ has yet another letter, this one from "Drug Policy Forum of Oregon," rebutting Czar Dogoloff.
For some reason (maybe the Angel Raich story) I've seen a lot of stuff on the Net about marijuana lately, but to have such a flurry in the Wall Street Journal is downright weird. Must be that changing demographics thang. Makes you wonder if when most of the people in Congress are baby boomers the pot prohibition will be repealed.
It started with an editorial page commentary on March 16 by constitutional expert Randy E. Barnett called "Reefer Madness". It was a learned assessment by Professor Barnett on how the federal courts go through constitutional contortions in maintaining the prohibition on medical uses of marijuana. The commentary was keyed by the Angel Raich story.
On March 23 there were four letters in response. If you are a Journal reader, you know that's a lot for any one commentary, meaning there were probably hundreds that didn't get printed. There were letters from organizations "Common Sense for Drug Policy" and "Marijuana Policy Project" decrying criminalization of a useful drug. President Carter's drug czar Lee Dogoloff weighed in - saying "every major" scientist says there is no medical benefit. Old arguments redux, but articulate and passionate.
Not to let a smokin' subject drop, today's WSJ has yet another letter, this one from "Drug Policy Forum of Oregon," rebutting Czar Dogoloff.
For some reason (maybe the Angel Raich story) I've seen a lot of stuff on the Net about marijuana lately, but to have such a flurry in the Wall Street Journal is downright weird. Must be that changing demographics thang. Makes you wonder if when most of the people in Congress are baby boomers the pot prohibition will be repealed.
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