Nobody has ever called Utah the vanguard of progressivism, but even in the Beehive State, voters have endorsed the use of marijuana for medical purposes.  The long term trend toward legalization of marijuana continues. Starting in Colorado and Washington state, voters and legislators have been approving use for medical conditions first, but recreational use seems to follow, at least in socially liberal areas.

You can read all about the outcomes in the four states, and various localities – cities and counties – in the Boston Globe, which remarkably turned over its editorial space to an advocacy group, Marijuana Moment, with a pro-forma disclaimer:

Marijuana Moment is a wire service assembled by Tom Angell, a marijuana legalization activist and journalist covering marijuana reform nationwide. The views expressed by Angell or Marijuana Moment are neither endorsed by the Globe nor do they reflect the Globe’s views on any subject area.

A very knowledgeable friend who needs to remain anonymous writes me about the benefits and hazards of this approach.

JAMA Psychiatry just published a study on cannabis-linked psychotic experiences. This has been known clinically forever, and the hard evidence has been increasingly solid. But the media never report it, although some of them have to know this. Just another bit of corruption in reporting. 

Because media people are themselves big users of drugs, like politicians and academics, they have a personal interest in rationalizing cannabis. The THC component is the toxic part, but it's also the hallucinogenic part. Growers have bred new varieties that have much more THC, and less CBD. 

CBD is very promising for medical purposes. Pure, synthetic THC is especially toxic to vulnerable boys (mainly, I understand). 

We're going through our repetition neurosis with popular drugs, which are "good" versus "evil" drug, which are not popular. It keeps on happening, and JAMA apparently waited to publish a critique after the legalization campaign had already won in many states. [But I note that this was published before the referenda yesterday were voted upon – TL.] Articles like this have been appearing in good journals for many years, so they could have done this earlier on, but chose not to. 

On the other side, we probably need cannabinoids to fight pain. The plant has 80 + different cannabinoids, and those can be made synthetically, one by one. There's an endogenous cannabinoid receptor system with all kinds of functions, probably only partly known.

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