WHY CAN’T WE JUST LEGALIZE WEED?!

Like… is it really so goddamn hard?!!!

Here in pot paradise California, where the air smells like skunk and joints are passed around like candy, it’s easy to forget that legal weed is still barred from two-thirds of America. But the joke that cannabis is still Schedule I—no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse—is actually causing a shitstorm of problems for everyone in the cannabis industry, from researchers to businesses, investors, and even journalists like me. Recently, there’s even been a spike in armed robberies at weed dispensaries, leading to the deaths of security guards and budtenders. (Dispensaries are full of cash due to not being able to access the banking system.) 

Today, the US House of Reps passed a landmark piece of legislation called the MORE Act that decriminalizes cannabis nationally. While this is only the second time in history that Congress has tried to end prohibition, don’t get too excited: according to the experts, the bill doesn’t have a chance of passing in the Senate, where it is expected to die on arrival. 

The big boys in charge just can’t seem to figure out how to legalize weed for the whole country, even though most Americans across the political spectrum now support this issue. As the $25 billion industry keeps growing and more states continue to just do their own thing, it’s clear this legislative dissonance needs to be fixed ASAP. So why is it so goddamn hard for America to just legalize weed?!