In commenting on my post yesterday on a lawsuit brought against the government by a medical marijuana advocacy group, Marlowecan noted “the perversity of the U.S. laws on marijuana� and asked why there is so much energy and focus on a substance that is fairly innocuous and the existence of policies that are viewed as fairly crazy by folks in other countries.
I believe the answer lies somewhere between those twin pillars of American society: Religious Puritanism and Social Hypocrisy.
Both are evident in draconian laws that have filled prisons with casual marijuana users despite all the studies that show that marijuana is indeed fairly innocuous, is not a gateway drug that leads users to the hard stuff and can provide relief from the side effects of chemotherapy and other crippling treatments.
How do you explain this disconnect?