Support for medical marijuana is high, one poll showed 81 percent of Americans support legal use of the drug for medicinal purposes. The truth is that what we know about the complete medical impact of marijuana is actually not as high as it should be. The reason? A new paper by the Brookings Institute argues that the Federal government's obstructionist policies are obscuring the full benefits of medicinal marijuana. The drug is still a schedule one narcotic, a label that brings with it a number of restrictions.
The disconnect between the Feds and the citizenry is apparent, but so is the disconnect between the Feds and the States. Several states have legalized medical marijuana as well as recreational marijuana.
Texas has not embraced full-fledged reforms, but did legalize cannabis oils for child epilepsy treatment in the last legislative session.
How do we change it? What has to happen?
Guest:
- John Hudak, fellow in Governance Studies and Managing Editor of the FixGov blog for the Brookings Institution
- Grace Wallek, Senior Research Assistance in Governance Studies at Brookings Institution
