Since 1996, 16 states and the District of Columbia enacted legislation permitting the medicinal use of marijuana. Such statutes surely represent a step in the right direction, but this type of regulation has faced considerable opposition on behalf of the federal government. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the federal government maintains the position that marijuana holds no medical value. What’s more, Draconian federal penalties for possession and distribution of

By Jim Sanders The Sacramento Bee Legislation to make California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use lit up a Capitol committee hearing Wednesday with three hours of lively but mellow debate. No joint consensus was reached. Dozens of people crammed into the Assembly Public Safety Committee session to discuss potential impacts of the proposal to allow pot to be taxed and sold openly to adults 21 and

Anyone curious about the effects of legalizing marijuana should read Norman H. Clark’s “Deliver us from Evil,” a history of the prohibition of alcohol and narcotics. Alcohol was legalized — in part — in order to deprive organized crime of money. Over time, the war on drugs has had little impact on drug use. By abolishing the war we would not only save billions of dollars in expenses, we could

A 2007 moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of Los Angeles has turned them, into, ahem, a growth industry. The moratorium includes a standard provision that allows dispensaries to appeal to the City Council for a hardship exemption to be allowed to operate. Some time last year, medical marijuana entrepreneurs discovered that the city attorney’s office was not prosecuting dispensaries that had filed hardship applications, saying the City