General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS drug policy fuels push for legal pot worldwide
In a former colonial mansion in Jamaica, politicians huddle to discuss trying to ease marijuana laws in the land of the late reggae musician and cannabis evangelist Bob Marley. In Morocco, one of the world's top producers of the concentrated pot known as hashish, two leading political parties want to legalize its cultivation, at least for medical and industrial use.
And in Mexico City, the vast metropolis of a country ravaged by horrific cartel bloodshed, lawmakers have proposed a brand new plan to let stores sell the drug.
From the Americas to Europe to North Africa and beyond, the marijuana legalization movement is gaining unprecedented traction a nod to successful efforts in Colorado, Washington state and the small South American nation of Uruguay, which in December became the first country to approve nationwide pot legalization.
Leaders long weary of the drug war's violence and futility have been emboldened by changes in U.S. policy, even in the face of opposition from their own conservative populations. Some are eager to try an approach that focuses on public health instead of prohibition, and some see a potentially lucrative industry in cannabis regulation.
more
http://news.yahoo.com/us-drug-policy-fuels-push-legal-pot-worldwide-130121981.html
ProSense
(116,464 posts)U.S. President Barack Obama recently told The New Yorker magazine that he considers marijuana less dangerous to consumers than alcohol, and said it's important that the legalization experiments in Washington and Colorado go forward, especially because blacks are arrested for the drug at a greater rate than whites, despite similar levels of use.
...words can sometimes effect change around the world.
Obama administration issue new banking rules for marijuana businesses
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024501968
It is slow and frustrating, but he is helping move the conversation forwards. Look at all the flack he got for his one statement that pot wasn't worse than booze. I can't imagine the uproar if he went full out for legalization, I suspect it would be quite counterproductive. Let the states move forward.
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)eShirl
(18,491 posts)but glad I lived to see it