Rick Steves: Pot is now used by Mom and Dad. And Grandma’s rubbing it on her elbows (opinion)

Editor’s Note: Rick Steves is a travel writer, public television host and chair of the board of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. One clear and predictable effect of the nationwide push to take the crime out of the marijuana equation is that black markets that have long enriched and empowered street gangs and organized crime have been replaced by thriving and highly taxed legal markets that employ thousands of people in rural corners, where such employment has been much needed, and generate billions of dollars in state taxes. The common-sense changes include removing marijuana from the Schedule I list of the most dangerous and highly regulated drugs, allowing cannabis businesses to use the federally overseen banking system, and expungement–which would clear the records of people convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses, thus restoring their right to vote. And as Keith legally inhales, it will also be time for our government to recognize something that more than 60% of the American people now believe and understand: that the current war on marijuana is racist, it’s an expensive and counterproductive mistake, and it’s time to recognize the civil liberty of mature American adults to enjoy smoking pot in their own homes and to do so without breaking the law.