A decade after the first states legalized marijuana for recreational use, it’s become a thriving industry.
Today, recreational use is allowed in 19 states plus Washington, D.C., with another five states voting on legalization in November. A total of 37 states allow the medical use of marijuana.
Clearly, acceptability is on the rise. At the same time, cannabis has gotten much, much more potent, with THC levels now as high as 100 percent in some products, compared to less than 2 percent for most weed smoked in the 1960s.
We speak with Ben Cort, author of “Weed, Inc.: The Truth About the Pot Lobby, THC, and the Commercial Marijuana Industry.” He explains how we’ve been down this road before, with Big Marijuana being no different from Big Tobacco and Big Pharma.
Next, in America Q&A, we ask: If you could give President Joe Biden one piece of advice, what would it be?
Then we look at marijuana’s medical impact. Is it the dream drug it was billed as, or are there unintended side effects? Dr. Ken Finn, president of the American Board of Pain Medicine, and co-Vice President of the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis (IASIC), has some surprising answers.
Finally, in our second America Q&A, we ask: What’s your concept of a fruitful day?