Big Media Musings

I thought it would be interesting to gage the media's stance regarding marijuana. Concentrating on mainstream publications that are well known. Using links from; metro newspapers, magazines, major news sites and video from TV networks.

In March of this year CNN's Jack Cafferty asked, "Time for US to legalize drugs", on his blog. Cafferty sounds off hourly on the "Situation Room", a weekday afternoon program on CNN. This topic is still on his radar, and was the subject of his blog post yesterday as well.

This article from the San Francisco Chronicle regarding Governor Schwarzeneggers recent comments provides a skeptical view. In the heartland of the country, the Kansas City Star had this interesting perspective that was a little different.


I believe TIME magazine's website offers some of the best commentary regarding the "war on drugs". Searching "marijuana" yields 1455 articles and a 2002 cover. That November issue had two long feature articles, click the cover to your left for one and "The New Politics of Pot" for the other piece.

Ranging back to 1968 "The Morality of Marijuana" was questioned. In April of this year, Joe Klein wrote "Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense".

TIME expresses their concern regarding the recent problems with Mexican drug cartels and the carnage around the US border. They also have chronicled the lighter side of the battle in "The Grass-Roots Marijuana Wars".

"Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?" was published by TIME in April 2009. It investigates a report written by Glenn Greenwald for the Cato Institute. While the report itself can be a little boring, (full 34 pages here) it is more of an empirical examination of the issue in Portugal and how their country has been impacted since they decriminalized ALL drugs in 2001.

So that is probably more reading than anyone has time to get done, I recommend checking out those links when you have a little time to kill. Over the weekend I'll delve more into the Cato Institutes thoughts on the subject and post some videos too.