Legal Weed: Where Are We Now?
It's a weird weed world out there these days. While the federal War on Drugs—including medical marijuana—persists, we're starting to see cracks. Congress is well on its way to forbidding the Drug Enforcement Agency from interfering with medical marijuana operations in states where it's legal. And FBI Director James Comey says the agency needs to be able to hire pot smokers for some positions. Meanwhile, culturally, we're seeing all sorts of interesting experiments in legal marijuana: Cannabis cafes; weed-friendly symphony concerts; organizations that grow free marijuana for vets; food trucks for cannabis edibles.
In February, Reason published a state-by-state guide to marijuana legalization and decriminalization. Since then, some states have seen pro-pot successes, some have seen failures, and some new bills and initiatives have cropped up. Elizabeth Nolan Brown looks at the state of state marijuana laws circa summer 2014.