Alexander Zaitchik

Last week I was awarded the Marty Biegel Civil Rights Award by the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, for a series of articles on drug policy published in High Times and at Alternet.org. It was an honor that I was very happy to see become somewhat obsolete a few days later, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he would no longer allow federal agents to raid state-approved medical marijuana facilities, a long-standing practice that was a focus of the stories.