Medical cannabis was first legalized in California in 1996 – since then, 32 more states have done the same, and 11 have made the drug legal for recreational use. A. Lee Hannah and Daniel J. Mallinson take a close look at how the US states have learned from each other on how to regulate cannabis in the face of a continuing federal ban. They write that the states have moved on from their initially vague laws, enacting measures which exert much closer control over the production and distribution of cannabis.
When California became the first state to pass a medical cannabis initiative in 1996, Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein argued that Proposition 215, which made the medicinal use of the drug legal, was so poorly written that “you’ll be able to drive a truckload of marijuana [sic] through the holes in it.” Her depiction of California’s law, and other early adopters’ laws, is not wholly inaccurate. However, medical cannabis policies have become increasingly complex and institutionalized.
State cannabis policies and regulations have become increasingly complex over time. The earliest adopting states wrote vague laws that essentially greenlit cannabis for medical use – providing patients an affirmative defense from state cannabis prosecution and allowing them the opportunity to grow or purchase a personal supply of cannabis – but created little structure beyond that. They did so out of fear from federal threats of prosecution for state workers engaged in implementing cannabis programs. So, states simply turned a blind eye to use for medical purposes. Recent laws, however, not only enable, but directly regulate and legitimize an industry that remains expressly prohibited by federal law. It is one thing to turn a blind eye to the violation of federal law, it is quite another to build up an intricate infrastructure to support it. So, what happened?
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