Joe McNamara, a retired chief of police in San Jose, CA, and Kansas City, MO, talks about why it’s time to legalize marijuana. Joe is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which any civilian can join for free at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com

Watch SSDP member Daniel Pacheco confront the Drug Czar and deliver 52,000 Just Say Now petition signatures! Have you signed the petition? http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/justsaynow?source=jsn

A conversation with author Christopher Fichtner, M.D.

Christopher Fichtner is a psychiatrist and the former mental health director for the state of Illinois. In his new book, Cannabinomics: The Marijuana Policy Tipping Point, Fichtner predicts that marijuana policy is about to change radically. As Fichtner points out, three public policy trajectories converging. The medical marijuana movement is gaining momentum. People are increasingly wakening up to the fact that drug prohibition creates more public health problems than it solves. And, in the same way that the Great Depression caused people to reprioritize how we spend our public dollars, the current economic crisis has got people thinking that bringing the biggest cash crop in the US out into the open might not be such a bad idea.

Reason.tv‘s Paul Feine sat down with Dr. Fichtner to learn more about the imminent marijuana policy tipping point.

Approximately 10 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

You don’t see this every day President Obama signs into law the Fair Sentencing Act relaxing sentences for drug crimes. This will narrow the disparity between sentences for crimes involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. As President Obama loosens one drug policy, the senate is advancing a bill that would toughen the penalty for pot brownies. Aaron Houston the Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy says the demand for marijuana is fueling the drug wars. Bishop Allen President of International Faith Based Coalition debates legalizing and drug addiction with Houston.