This woman is from Alaska, and for a long time, Alaska had some of the most liberal cannabis laws in the country. They re-criminalized it again in 1990, then at some point legalized it again for medical use. Now legalization is on the ballot again this November in Alaska (and in Oregon and Washington, DC), and it looks very likely it will be legalized, regulated, and taxed like alcohol in Alaska. I'm pretty sure that most of the nation will go this way in a few years.
Prohibition of cannabis has had all the same failures that prohibition of alcohol had, namely that it creates a huge black market that drives money into organized crime. And that results in violence between different organized crime groups and and it also results in financing police corruption. It also ruins lives --- and not lives ruined by drug use --- lives ruined by being caught up in a legal system that sends young people to prison for smoking weed. Prohibition and the criminal penalties that come with it ruin more lives than weed does. Cannabis proihibition has been a terrible failure and has cost us billions of dollars for no good results whatsoever. It hasn't accomplished any of its goals, and has created more problems than it has solved, all at huge expense. Good riddance!
Regarding medical cannabis --- I have had 3 friends with MS, all of whom got relief from symptoms using cannabis. They also all completed college degrees and went on to great careers, despite their use of cannabis. I know for a fact that it cures nausea like you would not believe, because I have experienced that myself. That said, the medical pot laws in CA are indeed a joke and many people who have medical ID cards do not have legitimate medical needs. Certainly the same can be said for many people who have prescriptions for morphine, oxycontin, vicodin and other narcotics. In both cases, the fault is with doctors who prescribe medications for people who do not need them, and with patients who shop around until they find an unethical doctor who will give them the drugs they want. The difference is that abuse of prescription narcotics leads to addiction and death, while abuse of cannabis does not.
Of course, you can't hold the fact that there are unethical doctors and unethical patients against those patients who legitimately do need a medication, whether it be cannabis or a narcotic pain medicine. With cannabis, I think it's more a case of "I ruined it for everybody," in which recreational users have been willing to risk delegitimizing the medical cannabis experiment for the sake of their own enjoyment. Frankly, until it is legalized, I'd almost rather that recreational users continued to get it through illegal channels, even with the problems that causes, just because I'd hate to see a backlash deny cannabis to those who really need it. It will be legal soon enough.
