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Welcome to The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine.

My name is Daniel Denver, and I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

The Drug War. It's winding down and heating up all at the same time.

States are legalizing recreational weed, including in California, where the medicinal pot market has long already allowed most anyone to secure the herb to treat whatever

might be ailing them. Meanwhile, prosecutors around the country are charging dealers,

including quite small-time ones, with murder when their drugs contribute to someone else's

fatal overdose. In Washington, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has instructed U.S. attorneys

to go to the max on severe mandatory minimum sentences, overturning a change made by Eric Holder,

Obama's first AG. And so even as harm reduction strategies like supervised injection sites

and decriminalization take root in some countries, drug warriors in the United States,

especially on the federal level, are still charging forth full force. And a real end to the drug war,

which would require the legalization and regulation of drugs from MDMA and LSD to cocaine and

heroin remains off the table amongst policymakers. Are we at the beginning of the end of the drug war?

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