Emily Bazelon

And because that in itself is so uncertain, I think the political conversation is having a hard time catching up.

Thanks for having us.

I'm Emily Bazelon, a writer for New York Times Opinion and The Times Magazine.

I'm here today with two of my excellent colleagues, German Lopez and David Leinhart.

Hey, guys.

The three of us help write and edit Times editorials.

Those are the unsigned articles that say editorial board at the top, and they express the institutional view of New York Times opinion.

This week, we published an editorial that we have been working on for a long time about marijuana, in which we're calling for increased regulation of the pot industry.

So we're going to talk about our argument and how we got to this point.

But I want to start just by asking both of you how you feel like

The place of marijuana has changed in the culture in the last decade and a half.

Is weed part of your lives?

Do you feel like you see it much more now that it's been legalized in many states?

How do you think about marijuana these days?

Hermann, let's start with you.

Also, the strains of weed have become so much stronger.

Like as someone who rarely actually uses it or smokes it, I feel like with edibles, I have to be really careful and start with like a really small amount.

Just assume that it's going to be way too strong or else I'll wake up in the morning and still some kind of fog.

I won't ask either of you to divulge your personal pot use unless you feel like chiming in.

Yeah.