Marijuana On The Ballot

52:18

October 31, 2012

Marijuana, on the ballot again next week. For medical use. For recreational use. We’ll look at the country’s changing take on pot.

Marijuana is weighed and packaged for sale at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012, in Seattle. Washington state is on the verge of becoming the first in the nation to let adults over 21 buy taxed, inspected marijuana at state-licensed shops. Supporters of Initiative 502 say allowing recreational pot sales could make drug laws a little more reasonable, prevent thousands of arrests a year, and bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars to help pay for schools, health care and basic government services. (AP)

Guests

Jonathan Caulkins, Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is co-author of “Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

Rob Kampia, co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

Robert Dupont, co-chair of the Writing Group on Marijuana and Fellow at The American Society of Addiction Medicine. He was the first Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978).

C-Segment: Sandy's Aftermath

Gregory Daco, senior economist at IHS Global Insight.

From Tom's Reading List

LA Times "The federal crackdown in L.A. is thought to be in reaction to a void of attempted regulation. But while the city itself may have run into barriers to the regulation of medical marijuana, the industry has been working to ensure community safety and patient access."

60 Minutes "Highly regulated shops sell medicine patients can smoke with names like Jack Frost and Biodiesel; edible versions of cannabis are also available, from the newfangled, like ice-cream, sparkling sodas and chocolate, to old standbys like cookies and brownies. A webcast to go live on Sunday evening on 60MinutesOvertime.com will feature a whole segment on the various kinds of marijuana-infused edible products Kroft found."

New York Times "Most efforts to legalize marijuana possession have generally run aground in the face of unified opposition. Mothers Against Drunk Driving led the charge in helping to defeat a ballot measure in California in 2010. Law enforcement groups, not too surprisingly, have also been largely opposed in the past."

This program aired on October 31, 2012.