title:  Former Attorney General: Congress Needs To Take Another Look At Cannabis
text: Marijuana legalization is on the cusp in America. There are proven medical benefits and evidence that it s more effective as a painkiller for people with chronic pain than opiates. It relieves nausea in cancer patients and stress related to PTSD. it s a nifty plant, whose commercial counterpart also offers an array of revolutionary products that are cheaper and stronger.Marijuana is here to stay. As more states move to legalize, cases will begin moving through the courts of citizens being denied their 14th Amendment right from a state where pot is a crime. In order for that to happen, however, pot has to really NOT be a crime. When you get to the federal level, it simply is. Marijuana is in the same class as cocaine and heroin, two drugs known to destroy peoples  lives with serious psychological and physical addiction.Eric Holder, former attorney general, told PBS that he thinks that is wrong. Holder said in a recently released Frontline interview: You know, we treat marijuana in the same way that we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate. So at a minimum, I think Congress needs to do that. Then I think we need to look at what happens in Colorado and what happens in Washington. What is unfortunate is that at one time, Eric Holder actually did have the power to at least initiate unilateral marijuana legalization through studies done by Health and Human Services. In the case of marijuana, there are two options to legalize:Courtesy of Brookings Yes, that means that Eric Holder had the keys to the shiny new pot plant but he never used them. He passed them on, instead, to Loretta Lynch, who has stayed out of the marijuana issue completely.No that it really matters at this point. Marijuana has far too many benefits. You re talking medicinal, production, research, retail counter. All of those things equal jobs which equal revenue. It means people doing life for a half pound of schwag can be let go. It means our upside-down legal system is going to have find something other than a little bit of pot to keep their machine running.It also takes the dealer out. Nobody needs them, their cartels, their smuggling operations   none of it. Now that pain pills have brought the war on drugs into wealthy white neighborhoods where the evolution from Oxycontin to shooting up heroin is a shocking revelation, Law enforcement and treatment professionals can focus their attention where it belongs.It seemed when the drugs were reserved for low-income and minority neighborhoods the answer was jail. Now all of a sudden it s treatment. As long as everyone benefits then so be it.Featured image from Wikipedia