![\"Marijuana](\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/marijuana_oliver.jpeg?resize=740%2C395\")
<\/p>\nJohn Oliver Pushes for Federal Legalization of Marijuana, aka \u2018Catnip for People\u2019 \u2013 WATCH<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Oliver tackled the regulation of \u201ccatnip for people\u201d aka marijuana in last night\u2019s Last Week Tonight<\/em>, chronicling its history in the U.S. and how it came to be classified as controlled\u00a0by Richard Nixon, \u201cthe Mozart of racially motivated lawmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n The Week recaps<\/a>:<\/p>\n Thanks to Nixon\u2019s Controlled Substances Act and subsequent inaction by Congress, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin but above drugs like meth and cocaine. And that has led to federal-state clashes and chaos, mistakes on the state level, and federal barriers to researching marijuana\u2019s medical effectiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, things fractionally improved toward the end of the Obama administration,\u201d Oliver said, because \u201chis attitude to pot was basically \u2018I\u2019m not going to hassle you over this unless you make me\u2019 \u2014 essentially the same policy as a security guard at a Dave Matthews concert.\u201d But the rules Obama put in place aren\u2019t permanent, and new Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a strident marijuana opponent. \u201cOur federal laws desperately need to be brought up to date,\u201d and there is some oddly establishment support for doing so in Congress, Oliver said \u2014 \u201cYes, there is now a Cannabis Caucus in D.C., and it\u2019s co-chaired by these four narcs\u201d \u2014 but despite some promising bills, \u201cfixing all of this is a huge undertaking.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The post John Oliver Pushes for Federal Legalization of Marijuana, aka \u2018Catnip for People\u2019 \u2013 WATCH<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n