About Marijuana
Additional Resources
- Drug Policy Alliance
- NIDA (Nat’l Inst. of Drug Abuse)
- Cures Not Wars
- LEAP
- Release
Source: The Drug Policy Alliance
Marijuana should be removed from the criminal justice system and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco. There are five jurisdictions in the Unites State that have rejected the failed prohibition of marijuana and changed their laws to legalize small amount of marijuana: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. Four states will license and regulate production and sale of marijuana. Marijuana legalization won on the ballot in Colorado and Washington in the 2012 election, and in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., in the 2014 election.
Legalizing and regulating marijuana will bring the nation’s largest cash crop under the rule of law, creating jobs and economic opportunities in the formal economy instead of the illicit market. Scarce law enforcement resources that could be better used to protect public safety would be preserved while reducing corrections and court costs. State and local governments would acquire significant new sources of tax revenue from regulating marijuana sales.
