This April, we’re doing a deep dive on the past, present, and future of cannabis policy. Check out our recent posts highlighting some of the major historical milestones in cannabis policy reform and the current landscape of cannabis policy in the United States.
DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young
"Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care. ... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."
Andrew Sullivan, author
"The sole tangible way in which pot is a gateway to other illegal drugs is that it is illegal. The best way to end this easy path to worse narcotics is to legalize it and take it out of the hands of criminals and gangs."
Joe Montana, former NFL player
"Legalization is picking up steam on a global level and I feel like now is the time to spread information about the curing capabilities of this plant. As with any medicine, increased accessibility comes with the need for education."
Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?"
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"Our federal marijuana laws perpetuate our broken criminal justice system, impede research, restrict veterans’ access, and hinder economic development."
David Irving, former NFL player
"I want to change the bias toward marijuana. I want to educate America that it’s not a drug, it’s medicine. The real reason I’m not in the NFL is that I’d rather be out here saving lives."
William F. Buckley, Jr., public intellectual and author
"The amount of money and of legal energy being given to prosecute hundreds of thousands of Americans who are caught with a few ounces of marijuana in their jeans simply makes no sense - the kindest way to put it. A sterner way to put it is that it is an outrage, an imposition on basic civil liberties and on the reasonable expenditure of social energy."
Carl Sagan, astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, and author
"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world."