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| Today's newsletter is going to focus entirely on a series of editorials the USA TODAY Editorial Board put together on the topic of legalizing marijuana. We've changed our opinion on the topic. Take a spin through our columns, marked free to our readers. |
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| A decade ago, Americans were nearly evenly split on whether to legalize marijuana. While half the country favored revising U.S. drug laws to make room for legal pot, the other half said to keep cannabis prohibition in place. |
| Public opinion has since shifted dramatically. Now more than two-thirds of the country favors legalization. That includes 83% of Democrats, 71% of independents and 50% of Republicans, according to Gallup polling. |
 | | Medical marijuana shop in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2019. | | David Eggert/AP | |
| But just because a proposal is popular doesn't mean it is wise. |
| Like you, we on the USA TODAY Editorial Board have seen and felt the national sentiment shift in recent years, and we have asked whether this direction is in the country's best interests. With editorials in 2012, 2016 and 2018, we urged caution, worrying that a rush to legalize marijuana could carry consequences both unintended and unwelcome. |
| Now that Democrats in the Senate have introduced a package of proposed marijuana policy reforms – along with a commitment to work with Republicans "to get something done this year" – it's time we look back on what we have learned in recent years and rethink our position. |
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| It's time to stop pretending the war on drugs ever worked. And a bill from a few Democratic members in the Senate is a step toward that. |
| Sen. Cory Booker, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ron Wyden, head of the Senate Finance Committee, reintroduced a revised bill to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and to remove it from the schedule of federal drug offenses. Congress should pass it for two reasons: |
 | | A marijuana leaf held in a hand, in front of a greenhouse full of cannabis plants. | | Getty Images | |
| ►While attitudes about marijuana use once presented a challenge, this is no longer the case. Most Americans support the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana is now legal in 19 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and medical cannabis is legal in 37 states. |
| ►No one should go to jail or be targeted by police for a nonviolent marijuana-related crime when its use is legal in most states – a point made even more obvious when we look at how ineffective, costly and harsh the enforcement of drug laws are depending on the community. |
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| Edwin Rubis recalls finding phrases from a Bible verse penciled faintly onto the wall of his jail cell a few days after his 1998 arrest on drug charges. The passage, from Psalm 88, says, "They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am forgotten. … I am in a trap with no way of escape." |
 | | Edwin Rubis is serving a 40-year sentence in federal prison for a marijuana trafficking conviction. Rubis has completed more than 30 education programs while incarcerated, including a master's degree in Christian counseling. | | Provided via Last Prisoner Project | |
| Those words still echo in his mind 24 years later as Rubis, now 53, sits in prison, serving a 40-year sentence for breaking federal marijuana trafficking laws. With good behavior, his projected release date won't come until August 2032, after he spends another decade behind bars. |
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| By Dr. Jeffery Selzer and Dr. Stephen M. Taylor |
| Substantial evidence indicates that cannabis can be harmful, including the reality that some individuals develop cannabis use disorders. Criminalizing personal drug use by someone who is suffering with the disease of addiction is an unacceptable and inhumane response to a medical condition. |
| Recognizing the harms of criminalization and the ongoing conflict between federal and state laws, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has called for a more scientifically informed and compassionate approach to cannabis policy across this country. |
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![American attitudes towards marijuana legalization are growing more and more favorable. A 2021 Pew Research Center poll found that 60% of Americans feel marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, while a further 31% say it should be legal for medical use alone. These changing attitudes have translated into changing laws at the […]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/b2b05a4ab25f4fca0316459e1c7404c537a89702/c=0-0-1365-768/local/-/media/2022/02/19/USATODAY/usatsports/imageforentry1-8yg.jpg?width=1200)
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