Plus: Warning signs before the Fairfax murder-suicide
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Top headlines
Lead story There’s no doubt the marijuana legalization movement has enjoyed sky-high success in the past decade. Since 2012, two dozen states have legalized the drug’s recreational use. Forty-nine states and Washington have green-lit medical cannabis. Not long ago, national legalization felt inevitable. But as weed enthusiasts gather on 4/20 to celebrate the culture’s unofficial holiday, a cloud of uncertainty will hang over celebrations, writes Drake University’s William Garriott. Garriot, who has covered the legalization movement for 12 years, explains how the ballot initiatives that once helped legalize cannabis in many states have lost steam. Important studies have raised new concerns about the health impact of regular use, and infighting has frazzled the once-cohesive coalition of marijuana supporters. These challenges, Garriott writes, are in many ways the result of the marijuana movement’s earlier successes. More legal cannabis means that more Americans are buying it, studying it and profiting from it. But that same success, he adds, could inform what comes next. [ Understand what’s going on in Washington and around the world. Get our Politics Weekly newsletter. ] |
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Alfonso Serrano Senior Politics + Society Editor |
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Cannabis plants are seen at Harborside Oakland Dispensary on Aug. 11, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
William Garriott, Drake University A cannabis legalization movement that for a decade rode a wave of success has stalled amid failed ballot initiatives, rising health concerns and a frayed coalition of supporters. |
Environment + Energy |
Matthew E. Oliver, Georgia Institute of Technology; Tibor Besedeš, Georgia Institute of Technology Who gets all that cash, and what do they do with it? |
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Politics + Society |
Jonathan van Harmelen, Oberlin College and Conservatory The Trump administration’s immigration detention policies appear to be, in part, inspired by the heavy-handed tactics of the former Arizona sheriff. Robert Forrant, UMass Lowell The Ludlow strike was one of the most bitter and violent in U.S. labor history. |
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Education |
Charles Bell, Illinois State University Interviews with parents of students with disabilities show that children were often physically restrained and secluded at school for nonviolent offenses. |
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Health + Medicine |
Kathryn Spearman, Penn State Women are at highest risk of being hurt or killed after separating from a potentially violent partner, but interventions such as taking away the former partner’s firearms can protect them. |
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Science + Technology |
Andras Molnar, University of Michigan When people know someone used AI to write a message, they see the person as lazy or insincere. Greg Eghigian, Penn State Science itself isn’t ‘truth,’ but it is an activity with the goal of getting closer to the truth. Lise Eliot, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Pulling together the results of 40 experiments done by different teams over decades, researchers found that infant boys and girls equally tune in to human faces and voices. |
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International |
Kaitlyn Rabe, The Ohio State University Rwanda pulling its troops out of Mozambique risks creating a security vacuum in the restive Cabo Delgado province. Randall Hansen, University of Toronto Not all victims of scam compounds are unwilling —and that’s what makes the system so hard to dismantle. |
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Reader Comments 💬 |
"...Prof. Beers’ test of Claude writing in the voice of Orwell is the state of the art today. I’m pretty sure that two years ago, it would have been less polished if Claude had even tried. Repeat the same prompt in 12 months, two years, and three years, and evaluate the improvement, if any. I suspect that in a few years, it will be hard to differentiate from a real Orwell. Same with movie scripts and novels. We are still early in the process.” – Reader Ben Compaine on the story Thousands of AI‑written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel‑writing machines’ More of The Conversation
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About The ConversationWe're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. |
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