If you want a metaphor for our changing nation, cannabis provides a good one — in real-time. No issue or idea, industry, or individual better exemplifies it.
It's been 50 years since the U.S. implemented the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) — the law that began and never really ended the so-called "war on drugs." Cannabis is listed in the CSA with heroin, LSD and Ecstasy as a "Schedule 1" drug. That means that according to the federal government, it has no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.