Marijuana is currently regulated by the United States government as a Schedule II drug, placing it in the same category as methadone, cocaine and morphine. This is largely due to the first condition of Schedule II drugs, which is that the substance “has a high potential for abuse.” The language in that clause is deliberately vague. Does abuse equal addiction? Probably not, since marijuana is not addictive like other Schedule II drugs. Rats don’t self-administer the compound in a lab, it’s virtually impossible to fatally overdose on the drug, and the physiological effects of marijuana withdra...

In 2007, when the Navy SEALs went looking for an alternative to the Barrett weapons system it already used — an ultra-high-caliber rifle capable of firing 0.50-inch cartridges at distances beyond 1,200 meters — it talked to the best weapons manufacturers across the globe. Eventually it got in touch with a small company with 50 employees, who, it had heard, could make a weapon suitable for its tactical and operational demands.

It didn’t buy American; it skirted around the excellence of German and Scandinavian weapons design; and, unsurprisingly, it didn’t call the Russians. It w...