Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2013 Associated Press Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. MARIJUANA MARCHES INTO THE MAINSTREAM WASHINGTON (AP) - It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of "Reefer Madness" to the excesses of Woodstock and back to the hard line of "Just Say No." The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously "didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did. And now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug - for medical use and just for fun. It is a moment rife with contradictions: People are looking more kindly on marijuana as science reveals more about its potential dangers. States are giving the green light to the drug in defiance of federal laws. Exploration of medical benefits is limited by federal restrictions on research. Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor who worked for a national commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in 1972, sees the public taking a leap from prohibition to a more laissez-faire approach without full deliberation. "It's intriguing, it's interesting, it's good that liberalization is occurring," he said, "but it is a little worrisome." More than that to those in the anti-drug movement. "We're on this hundred-mile-an-hour freight train to legalizing a third addictive substance," says Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser in the Obama administration, lumping marijuana with tobacco and alcohol. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom