Next month, the state of Michigan will join the ranks of 12 other states who currently allow for the use of medicinal marijuana - the first located between the Rockies and the East Coast.
Puff, puff, pass.
With 13 states (and more exploring the issue) now accepting pot use as a legal form of medication, the Editorial Board can't help but wonder how long before medicinal marijuana becomes accepted nationwide. Sure, the debate gets raised all the time, but maybe America has finally reached a point in its history where medicinal marijuana may solve more problems than pundits say such legislation would cause. Unfortunately, what will keep medicinal marijuana from becoming legal in all 50 states lies in the stereotypes perpetuated in popular culture that touch upon a small portion of users.
Yes, there will always be "stoners," such as the ones depicted in movies like "Harold and Kumar" and "Half Baked," but what about the 50-year-old man who suffers from glaucoma or the woman battling with chronic neck pain? Sadly, in states in which medicinal marijuana is not currently legal, otherwise law-abiding citizens are forced to turn to the streets to score weed - unnecessarily feeding the machine that is the American drug trade. If they are unable to find pot, then "legal" alternatives such as prescription painkillers enter the picture, which can lead to abuse of the drug through addiction and overuse.
While any major shock to the status quo will come with its initial problems, the march to legalize medicinal marijuana across the board seems more of a reality than ever before.
