NJ doctor and I agree: Blocking marijuana research, use is unjust

Barrack Obama smoked pot growing up, and went on to become the president of the United States. His daughter Malia smoked at Lollapalooza and is going to Harvard. So much for marijuana making you stupid.

What I think is dumb is the Obama administration keeping marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which puts it on a list with heroin and LSD. This continues to prevent the research of the therapeutic benefits of weed, which more and more states are legalizing as time goes by.

Dr. David Nathan is the Princeton-based founder and board president for “Doctors for Cannabis Regulation” which is a member of New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform. He's also been a guest on my show.

He told me the failure to move marijuana out of the restrictive category flies in the face of common sense. If you're looking to legalize marijuana, Nathan says, "descheduling is what you want.“

“Even if the DEA had moved it from Schedule I to Schedule II, the change would have been mostly symbolic. Rescheduling it, even to Schedule II, would be a step in the right direction, but it mostly replaces one set of clinical, research and legal barriers with another," Nathan said. "Only with descheduling marijuana can its use by adults be legalized and regulated on the New Jersey and national level. Only descheduling will bring an end to the countless harms of cannabis prohibition."

As for which of the upcoming administrations would be more likely to legalize marijuana, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump say they won't use federal laws to reverse state level legalization.

Nathan says the official Republican platform is more ambiguous, stating that “the progress made over the last three decades against drug abuse is eroding, whether for cultural reasons or for lack of national leadership. In many jurisdictions, marijuana is virtually legalized despite its illegality under federal law.”

In contrast to this, the Democratic platform includes a plank respecting the right of individual states to legalize, and supports a “reasoned pathway for future legalization.” So, based on platforms, I would expect a Clinton administration to be more sympathetic to states’ rights in choosing their own paths to legalization.

For voters who don’t support either candidate, I think it's worth noting that both Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein explicitly endorse full legalization on their respective platforms.

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