By Neal Peirce For Release Sunday, April 26, 2009
© 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
The criminal factor is being lifted from marijuana use in California. The other 12 states where marijuana is now permitted for medical use can’t be far behind.
And if 13 states now, then all 50 in the next years?
That’s the future some see flowing from a decision announced Feb. 26 by Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency, Holder announced, would stop its raids on marijuana dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes.
The order spells a refreshing respect for states’ rights. In California, where hundreds of new dispensaries are springing up to meet demand, customers need only produce a physician’s recommendation in order to buy marijuana. California law allows pot to be dispensed for “any illness for which marijuana provides a relief.” Back pain, anxiety, sleeplessness, glaucoma–virtually any condition can now be claimed.
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By Jonathan D. Miller For Release Sunday, April 26, 2009
Citiwire.net
The good news is that and states cities have begun fixing bridges, paving roads, repairing subway tracks, and upgrading sewage treatment plants.
And it’s clear–throwing stimulus money at ad hoc projects, generating jobs in a serious recession, can add value, especially when the funds are targeted at refurbishing aging systems which otherwise might break down or even collapse.
But let’s not pretend this short-term, ad hoc spending remotely addresses America’s infrastructure needs. The United States desperately requires a forward-looking plan for 21st century infrastructure that can support and sustain renewed economic growth and accommodate 100 million more Americans over the next 40 years.
Our last game-changing national infrastructure initiative dates back more than five decades ago to President Eisenhower’s interstate highway system–nearly 50,000 miles of sleek freeways, which spurred dramatic suburban growth and enabled long distance car and truck travel.
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