Marijuana Liberalization, Research, and Policy: Contributions to Current Knowledge and Practice

Excerpt

There is enormous heterogeneity in state marijuana laws that continue to change over time (Pacula & Sevigny, 2014). When I accepted the invitation to guest edit this special issue on marijuana policy in early 2016, 24 states had existing laws regulating the medical use of marijuana and five states had legalized adult recreational marijuana use outright.¹ During the past year, as I managed the review process for the articles included in this issue, six additional states enacted medical marijuana laws (Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia), and four others authorized recreational marijuana use and sales (California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada). These 10 states are the most recent to liberalize their marijuana laws—but certainly not the last—in a movement that stretches back more than two decades to California’s 1996 ballot referendum legalizing medical marijuana. The current legal frameworks governing marijuana access, supply, and distribution in the now 30 medical and nine recreational marijuana states are a complex product of each jurisdiction’s original and amending legislation, promulgated administrative rules, and relevant court decisions. …