Politics

Kevin Sabet and Ethan Nadelmann Debate Pot Laws and States' Rights

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This week, Kevin Sabet of the Drug Policy Institute and Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance debate marijuana laws and policy. 

Today's question concerns state efforts to loosen marijuana laws. Next month, Colorado voters will consider a broad marijuana legalization referendum in November, and half a dozen states have medical marijuana or legalization initiatives on their ballots. Legalization efforts have already passed in 17 states and broad decriminalization in many others. Yet the federal government has been cracking down on pot dispensaries in the Centennial State and elsewhere, and Washington considers these statewide changes subordinate to federal law.

Should states be free to chart their own course with regard to marijuana policy (both medical and recreational)?

Later this week, Sabet and Nadelmann will take on marijuana policy in a broader public health context and the Obama administration's record on pot.