Growing US movement to legalize marijuana

Democracy Now!:

We turn now to look at the outcome of this month’s historic votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Even before this, 18 states and the District of Columbia allowed the medical use of marijuana. Now, many are asking whether the passage of these latest measures could be the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition. All of this comes as the federal government continues to consider marijuana an illegal drug, and the Obama administration has supported police crackdowns even on medical marijuana. Meanwhile, it has ignored studies that show the plant can be effective in treating everything from depression to cancerous tumors. For more, we are joined by Martin Lee, a longtime investigative reporter and author of several books. His most recent is "Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana — Medical, Recreational and Scientific."