The New York Times is going to go down in history as part of the tipping point in the War on Marijuana.
Last week we noted the paper's debut as a leader in cannabis policy thinking with the
bold editorial calling for the national legalization of marijuana.
A week later, it’s become clear that the
New York Times had a much bigger plan.
“We decided we wanted to shout something out, to really crank up the volume,”
said Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, in an article by the
Time's ombudsman.
Check out the entirety of the six-part series the
Times has done over the last week, which continued Sunday with a section on regulation.
The
Times outlined the paper's position last Sunday, then tackled marijuana’s related issues of
State’s Rights,
Criminal Justice,
History,
Health,
Track Records, and
Regulation.
Along the way, the
Times goaded the White House into
lying to America about pot yet again, then the paper swatted down those outright lies and straw men erected by the Drug War establishment — and
caused other outlets to also
push back hard against Pot War propaganda. The
Times fact-checked down the annoyingly inaccurate pot-schizophrenia link, and did a video on
wet vs dry cities for pot in Colorado.
The New York Times has done more than seize the reins of the debate in this country. The paper made us a subscriber. Other major outlets need to ask themselves (ahem,
Los Angeles Times,
San Francisco Chronicle, BANG): Just what do
they stand for?