What Are the Effects of Marijuana Criminalization?

A decade ago, there was not a single state where it was legal to use recreational marijuana. Today, nearly half of Americans live in states where pot is now legal. And many more are in states where medical marijuana has been legalized. But the federal government maintains that the drug has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. How do we make sense of that? Our nation’s laws about marijuana are remarkably inconsistent. What are the effects of marijuana criminalization? And who gets caught in the middle? On this podcast episode, we talk to a man wrongly imprisoned for marijuana charges, a cannabis criminal justice reform advocate, a primary care doctor who’s been prescribing medical cannabis for years, and a drug historian to explains why the origin of our nation’s patchwork of marijuana laws.

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