crim sub use final

What does the legalization of marijuana involve?

Lower stakes and less uncertainty than legalizing other major illicit drugs

How is legalizing marijuana different from legalizing other drugs?

Legalizing marijuana represents a smaller change from current policy

What would legalizing marijuana NOT do?

1. Free up lots of prison cells

2. Reduce drug-related crime, violence, and corruption

3. Lead to as much increased use and dependence as legalizing crack or other drugs

What does research say about marijuana use leading to other substance abuse?

1. One drug may be substituted for another

2. Two drugs may be mutually complementary

At least how many other drugs do most people with substance abuse disorders use?

At least 2

Compared to problems involving marijuana, how much more crime and violence does alcohol cause?

More than 10 times

What is an example of marijuana use leading to more or less alcohol abuse?

If policy changes led to doubling marijuana use disorder and a 10% reduction of alcohol use disorder, the "cost-of-illness' would roughly balance out

Why isn't the status quo stable?

1. The future will not look like the present

2. The next wave of state legalization is already here!

3. A reversal of the legalization trend cannot be ruled out

What does ease of cannabis mean?

States must try to coordinate taxes

What are the best way to maintain high taxes?

Impose it at a federal level

Which states have legalized adult marijuana use since 2016?

California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada.

Which states have legalized medical marijuana use since 2016?

Arkansas, Flordia, and North Dakota

Why did the first four states use an alcohol-style commercial legalization?

The model already existed

What may be a cautious approach to utilize an alcohol-style commerical legalization?

It might show other models would work better

Why does it take a while to see the effects of legalization on the industry and on the use and dependence?

Different industries have different structures

How long will it take to see all the effects of legalization on the industry and on the use and dependence?

At least a generation after the industry has matured

Which states legalized marijuana in 2012?

Colorado and Washington State

Which states legalized marijuana in 2014?

Alaska, Washington Dc, and Oregon

About how much marijuana is consumed by someone who is under the influence more than half of their waking hours?

More than half of marijuana

What is a paradoxical quote about marijuana and alcohol?

Marijuana is safer than alcohol but is more likely to harm tis users

NSDUH

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health

How many individuals respond to the NSDUH survey annually?

70,000

Who are the current users of the NSDUH defined as?

Those who report consumption within the las 30 days

Where does the clinical criteria for dependence or abuse come from?

DSM-4-TR (Dignostic and Statistical Manual)

What percent of current users meet the diagnostic criteria of marijuana dependence/use?

21%

What percent of current users meet the diagnostic criteria of alcohol dependence/use?

13%

How much more abuse and dependence does marijuana generate per current user compared to alcohol?

62%

What does the best available data suggest about marijuana and alcohol abuse/dependence?

Marijuana creates abuse and dependence at a higher rate compared to alcohol

Marijuana appears most problematic relative to alcohol with respect to questions about life functioning:

1. Serious problems at home, work, or school

2. Problems with self-control

3. Alcohol more dangerous concering physcial danger

Why dont most people who try marijuana dont suffer from adverse consequences?

They arent using much of it.

What is the criteria for a cigarette smoker

100 or more on occasion

Marijuana use is _______ concentrated aming the small portion who use daily or near daily.

highly

Daily and near daily users consume ______ times as much per day as do occasional users

2 or 3

What problems does marijuana create?

Higher rates of behavioral problems, including dependence, among its users

Four defining characteristics of marijuana

1. It is a performance degrader

2. It is dependence-inducing, and the vast majority of users start before they are adults

3. It is not directly harmful to 3rd parties (as drunk driving is)

4. Its physical health harms are mostly minor

Who wrote Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity

Thomas Babor

What did Thomas Babor say in his book?

Restricting production and distribution to non-profits or for-benefit corporations might be a good start

WHat does choosing prohibiton mean?

Choosing black markets

What does choosing legalization mean?

Choosing greater drug dependence

We can choose what kind of drug problem, however what can we not choose?

Not to have a drug problem

Why is it important to be honest about tradeoffs society makes?

By being honest about the risks and costs of marijuana use, sensible policymakers can ensure that future legalization, if it must occur, is managed in the safest, most responsible way

What is one issue in the ongoing debate on the legalization of marijuana?

The effect of prohibition on government budgets

If marijuana is legalized, what will end?

Criminal and civil penalties for production, distribution, sale, and possession

What government budgets would be affected by legalizing marijuana?

1. Resources currently devoted to arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating producers and users would be saved

2. Tax revenue on the production and sale would be collected

What would the tax rates look like for legalizing marijuana?

The rates would be higher than most other goods, but not too high so as to retain the full "black market"

What goals should be moderate?

Revenue goals

What would prohibition reduce?

Marijuana use

What are the main effects of prohibition?

1. Increased crime and corruption associated with the black market

2. Harm to marijuana users such as high prices and threat of arrest and other legal sanctions

3. Reducted product quality - no mechanisms for product return or other liability crimes

4. Enriching criminals - no taxes or other fees paid

5. Restrictions on medicinal uses or marijuana - a spillover effect of prohibition

6. Compromised civil liberities - assesst seizures, aggressive search tactics, racial profiling

7. Respect for the law - prohibition undermines the spirit of "voluntary compliance" with the law

What is the MPP and when were they founded

Marijuana Policy Project in 1995

What is the principle the MPP was founded on?

That mrijuana laws ought to make sense, reducing harm rather than increasing it

What are the MPP involved in?

State and federal lobbyinh, ballot initative campaigns, public education, and grant support of local activists

What is MPP mission as of 2019?

End the prohibition of cannabis

What did the MPP point out about the Marijuana Tax Act (1937)

The act was passed without any sort of rational assessment of its risks and benefits, and the 'evidence' cited at hearings consisted almost entirely of anecdotes taken from newspaper stories

What is the MPP current strategic focus?

Focus primarily on change at the state level, also including the federal level and issues surrounding social justice

What are some of the things MPP has done?

1. Expanding the texas state medical program

2. legalize medical cannabis in South Carolina

3. Urging members of congress to support the cannabis administration and opportunity act

What are the two parts of the question of the risks and benefits of criminalizing marijuana?

1. Has marijuana prohibition succeeded in curbing marijuana use and its harm?

2. Has prohibition had other effects on society that should be taken into account?

For every birth cohort since 1951, what percent has used marijuana by the time they were 35 years old?

More than 50%

How much impact do criminal penalties have on use?

Little

In the Netherlands, where small amounts of marijuan are "effectively legal" rates of use hve chnaged but have always been ____ than the rates in the U.S.?

lower

What are some of the other effects of prohibition?

1. Harms to those arrested, jail sentences, fines, legal expenses

2. economic activity forced into the criminal underground

3. Environmental harm from "rogue grows"

4. No controls or restrictions on a widely used psychoactive substance -- there are controls on tobacco and alcohol

5. Numerous harms to legitimate medical cannabis patients

What type of laws were passed in the 1990s for medical marijuana?

Ballot initiatives

What state legislature has passed laws for medical marijuana?

New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Maryland

When was the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment passed?

2014

What is the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment

Prohibits the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws

What does the MPP strategy for ending prohibition depend on?

Public education and political action

As of April 14th, 2026, how many states have legalized adult cannabis use?

24

Which states legalized marijuana in 2016?

California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts

When did Vermont initially legalize cannabis?

2017, but was vetoed by govenor Phil Scott

When did Vermont finally legalize cannabis?

2019, 2020 for commerical retail

Which states legalized marijuana in 2020?

Arizona, Montana, and New Jersey

Which states legalized marijuana in 2021?

Virginia, New Mexico, Conneticutt

Which states legalized marijuana in 2022?

Rhode Island, Maryland, and Missouri

Which states legalized marijuana in 2023?

Delaware (without the signature of govenor John Carney), Minnesota, and Ohio

Which states have decriminalized cannabis?

Maryland (2014), Delaware (2015), and Illinois (2016)

Which states have recently legalized medical cannabis?

Mississippi, South Dakota, Kentucky, and Alabama

Which states have proposals to legalize recreational cannabis on the ballot?

North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, and Flordia

When was prohibition "systematically globally" and by whom?

1961 by the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

When was there a great increase in the use of marijuana?

The late 60s

By 1979, what percent of high school seniors said they used marijuana every day or nearly every day?

more than 10%

Baby boomers became _______ tolerant of drug use when they had their own children/].

less

What are the 4 factors for liberalization to pick up speed

1. Cancer and wasting diseases from HIV/AIDS

2. Rich Financial supporters for legalization adopt medical marijuana as a "wedge issue"

3. Declines in crime and violence lead us to consider less punitive approaches

4. Younger populations find marijuana less strange and scary

What are the 2 major surveys that have asked the question of how support for legalization in the US varied over time?

1. Gallup

2. the GSS (General Social Survey)

There is a greater support for legalization amongst these demographics:

1. Men

2. Liberals

3. Those born after 1950

4. Those without children

5. Those with more education

6. Those with weaker ties to organized religion

Conservative democrats are _________to support legalization than conservative republicans

no more likely

Younger people tend to be _____ favorable toward legalization than their elders

more

Parents with kids at home are _____ likely to support legalization

less

Younger voters who are more likely to support legalization have _____ rates of voting participation

lower

Since the 2008 global recession, support comes from people ____ about cannabis, but ____ about tax revenue

ambivalent; excited

Who is funding the legalization movement?

George Soros and Peter Lewis

Are the anti-reform campaigns rich or poor?

Poor

Legalization avoids the costs of prohibition by:

1. Loss of liberty

2. Criminal enterprises

3. Need for enforcement

What does legalization mean?

Treating a drug more or less the way we treat other commodities

Most prohibitions generate which types of markets?

Gray and Black marks

The tighter the resictions and higher the taxes....

The greater risk of the development of an illict market

What does decriminalization mean?

Removing criminal penalites

Why are drug laws in place?

To protect users from risks and to protect others from drug takers

Prohibition makes drugs ___ expensive and ____ convenient to buy?

More; less

What does drug laws create?

Risks and harms of their own. Harm associated with illict markets

Illicit markets can become social problems ____ to or ______ than drug abuse itself

comparable; greater

Spending time in jail is arguably ______ dangerous than smoking cannabis

more