Tomorrow’s Sunday New York Times’ editorial calling for an end to cannabis prohibition in America, affirms in my mind, after nearly twenty four years publicly advocating for cannabis law reforms at NORML, the end of cannabis prohibition in our nation is nearly upon the rest of the country (beyond Colorado and Washington State, where cannabis is taxed and regulated like alcohol products for responsible adult use). This is the same editorial board and opinions page that would with great frequency in the 1980s/90s publish some of the most stridently pro-cannabis prohibition editorials and columns found anywhere in the world, let alone from the urbane and ‘liberal’ New York Times, led by ardent cannabis foe, former editor and columnist A.M. Rosenthal.
Also included, informative editorial writing and excellent up-to-date map of all of the variations on cannabis law reform that have happened at the state level, putting evermore upward political pressure on the federal government to both end cannabis prohibition and severely down schedule the herbal drug.
Lastly, the dramatic change in Americans’ public attitude in favor of ending cannabis prohibition is well documented here.
A great sign of the times…the multidimensional pro-reform editorial ends with this nod to cannabis culture: On Monday at 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time, Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, will be taking questions about marijuana legalization at facebook.com/nytimes.
Andrew Rosenthal…the son of A.M. Rosenthal.
Times in America regarding cannabis have changed, and, accordingly, so too has the New York Times.
We the people are heard finally and are being appeased by the richest blood sucking authorities on earth, some of our nations control freaks at the top. The peasant, poor real people have persuaded the evil doers to give us a break. How will they fuck it up because of their greed? Greed always messes with nature, please take a break for your own good and ours, Cannabis is natures best healing of man kind you filthy rich low life.Cannabis heals!m
it is about time we ended this failed policy of prohibition. And stop wasting my hard earned tax dollars.
Replacing prohibition with regulation? Hmmm.
If a person owns their own body, they “regulate” it, not a bureaucrat.
Having to acquire “permission” to use, grow or possess a plant is still an authoritarian based concept. Free people don’t require “permission” to own themselves.
im a disable vet in ohio and in pain and sick to my stomic 24 7 all the va wants to do is give me more pills or therapy that dosnt work I told them that ive tried pot and it works but I cant buy it or ill go to jail or pay a fine just not right
Wow, imagine the dad AM Rosenthal the foe of cannabis legalization. Then there is the son, Andrew Rosenthal, the pro-cannabis son.
@ Ray; My understanding is the Veterans Administration has “appealed their stance and the VA does recommend Medical MJ for US Vets! I think you should contact your local Representative via e-mail form on webpage:
Write: Hello is Medical Marijuana approved by the Veterans Administration ? or call them
Marijuana is excellent for “tummy problems”!
In the meantime try “Peppermint or Spearmint Tea; loose or tea bags; drink daily w/milk.
(Mints aids digestion; Marijuana is “a mint!)
I am sure that Harry Anslinger himself must have some pro-cannabis descendants.
think about who wanted it to be a class three drug but tricky dicky and nobody has had the balls to change it ,
we all remember what happened to his butt all he did should have been tossed right out the door and start over interesting thought ?
@ Rick: “burning feet can sometimes be a sign “a deficiency of Vitamin B2 Riboflavin; Milk has Riboflavin Vitamin B2; buy Riboflavin @ pharmacy or with M.D. Script.
@ Nancy; see a “Naturopathic Physician
@ other “shoulder pain helped w Vitamin B6.”
(Vitamins are “over-the-counter items). Anne
So in the end, what this all boils down to is GREED. Why, that’s the American way! Hundreds of billions of dollars that evil, mega- corporations would stand to loose if marijuana were legalized. Relax fellas – just buy some stock in cannabis – you’ll be fine! It is the will of the American people!
Cannabis, the pursuit of happiness
Marijuana law reform is moving in the right direction but it needs to catch like wild fire can some one tell D.C. to wake the fuck up!
As defined by the United States Controlled Substances Act, the following findings are required for drugs to be considered Schedule I:
1) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
2) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
3) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.
Folks, it’s as simple as 1,2,3 – ANYONE with reasonable intelligence can read the above & can ONLY conclude that Cannabis simply does NOT meet the criteria. That aside, prisons-for-profit, mandatory sentencing & refusal to accept the facts remain as major obstacles with which we must deal…
For and by the people ? Do you really think the fuddy-duddy geezers running the show are going to wake up .
The charade is over. Regulate only to underage. Anything else is going to look foolish. Advise to keep the stuff locked up like parents do and should do alcohol unless it’s needed for medicinal purposes. There are just so many things it’s good for. Also many strains and many differing strengths. Time to let go and share the world properly. It’s a matter of respecting human beings and giving them the dignity to rule their own health and ability heal themselves in the way they feel is best for them. We are our own best Doctor for many things and we know what is helpful and what is harmful. Prohibition of cannabis insinuates otherwise and in that regard is causing a great deal of harm to a great many people.
Is the article’s title supposed to be a double entendre?
It could be interpreted as meaning repeal the second prohibition, i.e. repeal cannabis prohibition like alcohol prohibition. That’s the way I take it.
I’m wondering if it could be understood as The New York Times once again calling for an end to cannabis prohibition.
Is this the very first time The New York Times has called for the feds to end cannabis prohibition?
Is this a First for the NY Times?
Making marijuana a Schedule #1 drug IS the CRIME. Fight this criminal law to the supreme court. There are many medical uses. It was reported to Nixon that it has anti-cancer properties, a report he buried. Treats PTSD, pain, depression and much more. The judicial branch is supposed to oversee the legislative, not rubber stamp criminal legislation!
i will vote for the politicians that end prohibition ,Washington please leave us have the weed. after driving a truck all day i need something other than alcohol and pills to kill the pain. take weed off the schedule one.i guess Ron Paul hears us.all them other assholes can eat shit and die
I did not read the article carefully so I missed the boat on how many states “have medical marijuana CBD or decriminalization;
plus 2 retail shops says 35 states in all…
I did not realize the number was so great yay
Supply and demand will be the next big prob.! Demand is great;supply is not. thanks!
ps I was reading: “Congress has the authority to “reschedule the MJ Herb”; altho’ I think Obama could do if he wanted.
I agree with I am the walrus…anyone can see “Cannabis does not fit the Schedule I criteria”…Schedule I is ridiculous for MJ !
“Don’t step on the Grass Sam…Do not ruin our fair country don’t step on the grass Sam(open the door Hal…open the MJ door Sam)*
*note Sam is slang for Uncle Sam i.e. US Gov.
I can’t imagine sending an loving, patriotic, nonviolent, tax paying person to prison simply for marijuana.
It makes as much sense as sending a person who drinks wine to prison. (unless they drove a motor vehicle afterwards and killed someone)
Do the judges who send these caring people to prison watch out for them?
Make sure that while they serve time for their heinous crime that no harm comes to them?
That they are not in fear of the violent criminals who do belong there?
When will we the people take back our rights?
Throughout history,there has always been some bunch of ASS HOLES trying to dictate to the rest of the population how they should live,what is ok by the laws they some way get into place,how much you should follow their way of life,sorry the US is full of those kind of idots,and we have to try and seek a way of life that we want,that is suitable to each of us as we try to pursue happiness with a will of our fucking own,prohibition has never worked and I am so glad the general public has won this fight ,FUCK ALL THOSE THAT TRY AND REGULATE US! May they all eat shit and die!
Lawinforcment wants the dough Ray ME
My post on “the History.”
“In the last few years, I discovered that Koch Industries purchased the petrochemical and timber patents from DuPont in 2004 that compete directly with an legal domestic hemp industry. The NYTimes broke the story on the Koch brothers being behind the shutdown. Yet
the hemp research amendment passed the Farm Bill, Ag. Comm. James Comer took the DEA to court and the Kentucky hemp crop is thriving. This article leaves out crucial parts of American history; The first Model T by Henry Ford was fueled and made from hemp, the Hemp for Victory campaign and DEA SOD program.”
Keeping marijuana illegal ranks right up there with putting all of the Japanese-Americans in internment camps during WW2. A big mistake on the part of US government! The sooner they admit that they made a mistake, the better.
When will the Gov re-schedule MJ Herbal Med?
I read Norml filed a lawsuit which went on for over 22 years !
and still the Gov. DEA would not budge…!
I thank Norml for their valiant efforts; the Gov. had a chance to reschedule; they said no
So the People have Spoken in Spokane etc.
“TAX AND REGULATE THE MJ HERB” the folks say!
Legalize across the nationwide board I say !!
“No more time to lose !!” Thank you Norml !!!
“Keep up the good fight…” Anne 1951 USA
@ Julian:
about “DuPont”; and other co.’s; so why doesn’t DuPont get into the Hemp Business worldwide? People do not want synthetic polyester anymore ! I would far prefer to wear natural hemp! so DuPont is wasting time!
Dupont could develop the best mj seed around!
@ Julian
Wikipedia: Koch Industries:
Koch Industries subsidiaries are:
Georgia-Pacific (subsidiary of Koch “Bros”.)
Georgia-Pacific is a paper and pulp company that produces “Brawny” paper towels, “Angel Soft”, “Mardi Gras” napkins and towels, “Quilted Northern” paper towels, “Dixie” paper plates, bowls, napkins and cups, “Sparkle” paper towels, and “Vanity Fair” paper napkins, bowls, plates and tablecloths. The Atlanta-based company has operations in 27 states.[19]
IMAGINE IF ALL THAT “PAPER WAS FROM HEMP ?
Paper and cloth use a lot of “Wood Pulp”;
Trees belong in forests; Hemp in our fields!
so the agricultural commissioner took the DEA to court “and won”! Hemp Hemp Hooray !!
Its sad just because Hearst lumber and the chemical plant dow or dupont or whoever else was responsible for proabiton in the 1st place has et over 70 years of the benifits of hemp for fuel an cuontless oter product undeveloped an all peoples rights for the benefits of this plant anyone still believe its the gateway drug better loo at alchol ist for most houses have someone that has delt with drunks you can’t reason with a drunk ther worse than anyone who smokes some GOD. Given plant that noone who has tried can compare alcohole kills women kids get beet car wrecks health props Dui drunks loose drive privalige they loose jobs families wake up. Compair the 2 and its obvious pot should not be phrhibited when booze is fine and used as a party and advertised as GOOD however I respect individual choice if you drink your choice if you smoke cigs your choice pot should be an individuals choise as well NOone sHOULd be jailed for using this plant with many uses look back do some individual cheking and there should be no doubt phrohibition does not work and makes good people into criminals that’s not only wrong its an insult to peoples freedoms.
t
I saw Vikas Baraj and David Firestone on the cable news channels.
David Firestone wrote articles with the titles:
Let the States Decide on Marijuana
and
Timing the Call to Repeal Marijuana
Vikas Baraj wrote:
How the Federal Government Slows Marijuana Research
My ANAL(retentive)SYS
Since my last post I’ve had the chance to de-stress, and have re-read the editorial board’s “Repeal Prohibition, Again.”
The content of the articles was preaching to the choir, same old same old, we heard it all before here in the cannabis community.
While I commend the NYT for changing its tune and making a first on the uptight, broomsticks-up-their-asses-east-coast newspapers in calling for an end to federal legalization–as opposed to namby-pamby calls for decriminalization–I couldn’t find any recommendations to the brain-dead federal politicians as to how they should go about extracting the U.S. from international treaties that prohibitionist politicians time and again have referred to as preventing the U.S. from legalizing cannabis.
I am just so tired of hearing this shit about international treaties preventing legalization.
The NYT needs to advocate the feds ignore the Single Convention on Narcotics of 1960 when it comes to cannabis. The federal government needs to leave it up to the states, needs to amend its language to the SCN of 1960 or just ignore the UN prohibitionist assholes in Vienna who will condemn the U.S. and who have already spoken out against legalization in Colorado, Uruguay and Washington state.
Other papers will parrot the legalization memes of the NYT, so they should keep beating the drum.
Mayor de Blasio needs to call the dawgz, you know, especially in light of this latest shit Bill Bratton’s dawgz have pulled. I mean, they freakin’ murdered Eric Garner for selling tax-free smokes, ok, albeit cigarettes, but they’ve been racking up marijuana arrests with their stop ‘n frisks, and in part because that pussy Cuomo has one of the most restrictive marijuana laws in the country. Cuomo and Christie ought to get together and rethink what fucks they are, thinking they’ll be restrictive and as prohibitionist as they can on weed because of presidential asperations, with emphasis on the ass-sound of the word. Forget it. There will be no president Christie, no president Cuomo. Period.
So when will de Blasio call off the dawgz? When will District Attorney Kenneth Thompson’s Brooklyn policy go into effect in all of NYC? Mayor de Blasio needs to put up or shut up. Old boss same as the new boss. Do something, de Blasio!
NYT needs to encourage Rhode Island to be the first state on the Least Coast (West Coast rules!) to legalize adult recreational cannabis.
Cannabis prohibition is factually over at the federal level because as New York goes so goes the nation.
Cannabis prohibition is dead. It’s just a matter of how many more lives prohibitionists want to ruin, how much more time and money the prohibitionists want to waste until the politicians get the hell out of the way, grab a flag and run to the front of the crowd and take all the credit for leading the way.
Politicians still wasting time and money suing the Prez. Maybe they can get Ken Starr to give them some tips about how to piss away taxpayer dollars on such bullshit.
Change! Let’s see some of it!
Let me add to my rant that it’s long overdue that the U.S. amend its participation in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics to allow for the CIA to oversee its assets trafficking in cocaine like in Iran-Contra, all this other shit they’re into, but not officially. Like the U.S. in in Afghanistan, world’s leader in illegal cannabis and opium poppy production, and the U.S. is having a heroin epidemic. Put 2 and 2 together.
What have you got from Snowden on this?
I agree too prohibiting this herb has wasted so much time !!
Green buds bring me up…
Green buds clear my mind…Get some today !@@
It is simultaneously disturbing and funny to read the comments posted by people on the New York Times website that are against legalization. They’re afraid it’s going to turn our nation into a bunch of dumb potheads but when you read their comments they are truly the ones lacking any real intelligence on this subject. These fools tend to put more faith in an obviously dishonest govt policy than they do in those of us that it actually used it.
I’m so glad these fools are, by far, in the minority!
Oracle, I do believe the main reason the prohibs are still dragging their feet is they haven’t figured out how else to dupe the public out of this much money any other way. That is why they call on the mythical power of non-sense AMEMDMENTS in treaties which mention MARIJUANA/CANNABIS and these Bullshit Lies can and will be AMENDED out of the TREATIES (then the kooks can cry in their spilt milk) and eventually you’ll be able to travel on a plane with your buds.
I live in a state that provides for medical marijuana use and it’s great. I live 25 miles from a state that allows sale to anyone over 21..times there aren’t good because of the state stance on who can grow. You have to keep records, they want statistics and history of your hybrids. Looking for scientific type things here people. Growing for 60 years isn’t scientific enough. You have to show that you’ve been to school as a botanist and have a degree in pot growing. The matter that you’ve grown and sold since 1960 isn’t good enough-besides who wants to tell the state that? There needs to be something other than the state authorizing and controlling my pot. I can grow great pot but not sell it to someone else cause its distributing.
Legislation legalizing pot isn’t working but it’s all we have…do we go on with it or hold strong for something right.
The main reason that weed won’t make it in the next 20 years is the BILLIONS maybe TRILLIONS of dollars that it will cost the huge companies and congressmen in this country that stand to lose who knows how much money on replacement products.Like the OIL industry,cotton for the clothing industry and so many more. I don’t see prohibition on the federal level until these corps stop lining the pockets of the judges and politicans.And they stop taking large amounts of money from the lobbyist for these companies. I don’t think it will happen in the near future.I truly wish it would, lets HOPE supreme court judges can bit my ASS