Former Supreme Justice Stevens: Legalize Cannabis

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens speaks at a lecture presented by the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, May 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says he thinks the federal government should legalize marijuana.

The 94-year-old retired justice tells NPR that public opinion has changed on the issue.

Stevens also says that there isn’t much distinction between marijuana and alcoholic beverages. He says that the prohibition against alcohol in the early 20th century is generally thought not to have been worth the cost and that he believes that will be how marijuana is viewed in the future.

Stevens is the author of a new book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution,” in which he proposes banning capital punishment and limiting gun rights.

NPR will air its interview with Stevens on the program “Weekend Edition Saturday.”

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NPR: www.npr.org

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Notable Replies

  1. Will we ever see another Stevens on the court? Certainly not the current Roberts court.

  2. That Justice Stevens was appointed to the USSC by a Republican president reveals a lot about the regrettable direction that party has taken in the last 40 years.

  3. I predict a Justice Stevens hybrid strain on the horizon…

  4. At some point, our leaders have to grasp the idea that weed isn’t the awful drug that it has been made out to be. And beyond that, they not only have to acknowledge the facts they need to back up and let people that have been wrongly imprisoned out and decriminalize their history.
    The entire war on drugs has been a massive financial waste and epic failure. Legalizing weed now would only be doing what should’ve been done 50 years ago.

    (5)

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