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USA Today: Time for change: Federal ban on marijuana use causes more harm than good.

Time for change: Federal ban on marijuana use causes more harm than good

The Editorial Board
USA TODAY
Published 8:00 AM EDT Jul. 31, 2022 Updated 8:00 AM EDT Jul. 31, 2022

A decade ago, Americans were nearly evenly split on whether to legalize marijuana. While half the country favored revising U.S. drug laws to make room for legal pot, the other half said to keep cannabis prohibition in place.
Public opinion has since shifted dramatically. Now more than two-thirds of the country favors legalization. That includes 83% of Democrats, 71% of independents and 50% of Republicans, according to Gallup polling.

But just because a proposal is popular doesn’t mean it is wise.

Like you, we on the USA TODAY Editorial Board have seen and felt the national sentiment shift in recent years, and we have asked whether this direction is in the country’s best interests. With editorials in 2012, 2016 and 2018, we urged caution, worrying that a rush to legalize marijuana could carry consequences both unintended and unwelcome.

Now that Democrats in the Senate have introduced a package of proposed marijuana policy reforms – along with a commitment to work with Republicans “to get something done this year” – it’s time we look back on what we have learned in recent years and rethink our position.

More and more states contradict federal cannabis law
A decade ago, none of the 50 states had legalized marijuana for recreational use. That began to change in late 2012, when Colorado and Washington authorized their “adult use” programs. Now a majority of states have laws that permit marijuana in certain circumstances:

?Nineteen states allow marijuana for medical or recreational use.

?Eighteen states allow marijuana for medical purposes only.

?10 more states allow products with nonpsychoactive compounds.

?Two U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., also have legalized recreational marijuana.

Three states – Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska – do not allow any marijuana products.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/todaysdebate/2022/07/31/legalize-marijuana-federal-prohibition-more-harm-than-good/10100661002/