Cannabis prohibition is now 75 years old. Will it ever end?
The great failed social experiment of alcohol prohibition
instituted in the 1920s lasted barely a dozen years. It took a
constitutional amendment (the 18th) to ban alcohol products, and
another one (the 21st) to restore them to the free market. Was
there a similar constitutional amendment that outlawed cannabis
products in 1937?  Of course not.  But that’s how the hypocrisy
and duplicity of cannabis prohibition was given life. America’s
modern policy of vilifying, arresting, prosecuting and
incarcerating cannabis consumers, cultivators, and marketers is
now firmly entrenched. However, based on public-opinion surveys
and focus groups, three-quarters of the American public strongly
supports “soft” reforms, such as medical access and
decriminalization of small amounts for personal use.   According
to Gallup polls, 50 percent of Americans now want cannabis
legally controlled in a manner similar to alcohol, tobacco, and
pharmaceuticals. Moreover, the fe