CANNABIS CULTURE – Despite what some critics might call a long history of ‘Just Saying No!’ to discussing the drug war in honest and rational terms, CNN seems to be showing symptoms of marijuana addiction.

Over the past few weeks, America’s Cable News Network hasn’t been able to keep pot off its lips, incessantly discussing legalization, the failed drug war in Mexico, hemp laws, and medical marijuana.

CNN hosts have brought on pot-friendly guests, including Jeffrey Miron, Harvard professor and author of Drug War Crimes, and Terry Nelson of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, who both advocate legalizing marijuana.

Just this week, the network has sparked discussions of pot at least four times. On Tuesday’s American Morning, host Kiran Chetry discussed “America’s insatiable appetite for drugs” showing a CNN poll where 90% of respondends voted yes to legalizing pot.

Later on the program, she quoted a 2007 statistic showing that “an American was arrested every 38 seconds for violating marinjuana laws,” and talked about the increasingly violent drug war in Mexico.

Then she brought on Congressman and legalization advocate Ron Paul, whose recently co-sponsored a bill to legalize industrial hemp. Paul has been on numerous times in recent weeks.

Then on Wednesday, Chetry again addressed the subject in her continuing ‘Drug Nation’ segment, speaking to a marijuana user about legaliziation.

But the networks chronic obsession doesn’t stop there. Many CNN staffers are getting in on the sessions, from newbie D.L. Hugley to oldies Larry King and Jack Cafferty.

Other networks have also loosened up lately, like CNBC, which hosted lively discussions with prohibiton-reform activists, and ABC’s Al Roker highlighted the billion-dollar pot industry in “Marijuana Inc.,” but none as weed-welcoming as CNN.

Though America’s new leadership seems to be addicted to the same old hard-on-crime policies, it seems that one of the giants of Amercian mainstream media may be moving on to something softer.