It has to do with pressure over the decades including using the UN to enforce a planetary prohibition on laughing grass. Decades of demonization and rantings had everything to do with the decision, because if the United States were not the hyper-prohibitionist they are cannabis would have already been legal here and in Canada and there would be no ruling at all.
There is a lot of ignorance on pot. If you followed the cannabis story the one thing you would be wise to is the media. Because there are so many views and reports at DU, the people that read DU and follow the intellectual paths already know the media sucks and they are complicit in furthering officialdom and serve people their daily programming with what is news entertainment.
The biggest news last week was the the government giving Rupert Murdoch his red meat by letting him acquire DirectTV. This is outrageous and the media did not inform the American people of the deal or the implications of such a deal.
There is a total disinformation campaign going on to restore to Residence someone that failed in business, used government powers to enrich himself in building the Houston stadium, was AWOL, a party animal, a failure as a governor, and the worst president ever. Remember the WP survey in September that reported 69% thought that Iraq was involved in 9/11. The only way a falsity like that could be so ingrained is by a huge disinformational campaign just like what we see with all things Nazi/Busch.
Why would people think the economy is improving when manufacturing jobs have declined 40 months in a row. They would have to improve at some time because it cannot go down to zero without interuption. The line has not gone up in 40 months and the population has grown by maybe 10 million.
We are being lied to and lied to continually. The prohibition laws inflict hundreds of times more pain than legal laughing grass ever could. It is that simple. Prohibition is wrong. It is stupid. It is unAmerican. Look at what we should have learned with alcohol. We should have learned, no more prohibition forever. Al Capone's gang would not have a chance in Chicago these days.
Here is the archive of the coverage at pot-tv -
http://www.pot-tv.net/ram/pottvshowse2382.ram