GRITtv: Feb. 8, 2010

An initiative in California for marijuana legalization is slowly moving toward an appearance on the November ballot, and several other states have taken steps to legalize the drug for medical purposes, or to decriminalize possession, reducing it to a misdemeanor charge. Since the start of the economic crisis, many -- including the venerable Economist magazine -- have called for legalization and taxing in order to boost revenues. Could marijuana save the economy? Would the benefits -- both for government money and for those who use the drug for medical purposes -- outweigh the negatives? We ask Ryan Grim, correspondent for the Huffington Post and author of This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, Brendan O'Flaherty, professor of economics at Columbia University and author of City Economics, and Terrence Farley, former prosecutor for Ocean County, NJ and former Director of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. Dr. Gabor Mat? has learned a lot from a long career of working with addicts. In his new book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, he explains the way our society adds to our stresses, creates addictions, and then punishes people for their problems, and the best way to actually help people break out of the cycle of addictive behavior. He joined Laura recently to talk about the book. In what looks like a fairly narrow victory, Victor Yanukovich is projected to become the next President of Ukraine, beating out Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Natalia Antonova, editor of GlobalComment.com, checked in via Skype from Kiev with this commentary on the election. U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry cabled his concerns about a troop increase to Obama months ago, and the New York Times recently released the full text of the memos. In this video from Brave New Films' Rethink Afghanistan series, Daniel Ellsberg, Matthew Hoh, and other analysts look at Eikenberry's words and explain their concerns. President Obama promised change in Washington, but one year in we've got nothing but gridlock. Professor Lawrence Lessig has known Obama for years, and in this video from our friends at The Nation, Lessig calls on Obama--and all of us--to push for real change: change in Congress. We'll be discussing this issue with Lessig and others on the show soon! Finally, Laura calls for greater transparency on the issue of US soldiers in Pakistan.