Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, created by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, was established to recognize individuals who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or world peace, or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
There have been a few recipients who fell from grace after receiving the medal. Bill Cosby, for example, got one from President George W. Bush in 2002 and was later convicted of aggravated indecent assault. But presidents have generally maintained a high bar, awarding the medal to popes, astronauts, scientists, statesmen, military heroes, thinkers and artists. Â
Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times
We may be a deeply divided nation, but thereâs one thing we agree on across the political gulf: pot.
In every state, blue and red, where it was on the November ballot, cannabis reform passed.
The citizens of Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota approved marijuana for recreational use. In Mississippi and South Dakota, voters approved it for medical use.
There are now 35 states where cannabis is legal for medical use, and 15 (including California, of course) where it is legal for adult recreational use.
The only thing standing in the way of commonsense nationwide cannabis regulation is the preposterous insistence on the part of the federal government that marijuana is a dangerous drug with no currently accepted medical use, on a par with heroin and LSD.