Legalizing Marijuana
Anita L. Lewis
Soc.120 Introduction to Ethics& Social Responsibility
Jack Isbell
March 30, 2013

In 1996 California voters first approved an initiative legalizing possession and sale of marijuana for medical purpose in Proposition, thirteen other states followed suit. In addition, two more states have passed laws that, in one case, permit physicians to prescribe it (Arizona) and in another, allow it medical use as a legal defense in a prosecution for unlawful possession
(Maryland): bills to legalize marijuana have been introduced in the state. In 2009 the U.S. Department of Justice (Do) announced that prosecutorial priorities should not target individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” Judges in states that have legitimized medical marijuana are increasingly faced with the need to decide whether to prohibit medical marijuana use as a condition of probation. In 1972, marijuana was placed in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which reflected the U.S. government’s view of it as having” no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Specifically, it indicated that individuals with cancer or other serious illness who use medical marijuana and the caregivers who provide the medical marijuana in accordance with state law should not be the focus of federal prosecution. In many of the states that have legalized medical marijuana, as in my home state of
Colorado, medical marijuana is a growth industry. State and federal marijuana laws in some detail in order to lay the necessary foundation for the analysis in Part III and IV. Section A survey current state laws government marijuana. Though every state now bans marijuana for recreational use thirteen states so far have adopted exemptions legalizing use of the drug for medical purpose ban on marijuana and its steadfast, aggressive opposition to medical-use exemptions. Finally, section c shows that most commentators have dismissed state medical marijuana laws as a largely symbolic, doomed-to-failure experiment, by suggesting states lack the authority to legalize something Congress proscribes or by suggesting that medial use of the drug will succumb to the harsh federal ban. A current State Laws: since the 1930s, every state has banned the cultivation, distribution, and possession of marijuana for non- medical purpose. In most cases, a violation of one of these bans constitutes a criminal offense. To be sure, a few states have decriminalized very minor marijuana offenses(i.e., simple possession of an ounce or less) without regard to use. But it is important to recognize that marijuana remains forbidden in such states-minor offenses continue to trigger civil sanctions, and more serious offenses remain subject to criminal sanctions. Thus, outside the context of recently enacted medical use exemptions (discussed below), marijuana remains a strictly forbidden and usually (though not always) criminal drug at the state level. The exemptions vary, but all thirteen states apply a common framework for determining who qualifies for them. To begin, they specify that a prospective medical marijuana user must have a debilitating medical condition that has been diagnosed by a physician in the course of bona fide medical exam. The list of qualifying conditions typically includes cancer, glaucoma, AIDS(or HIV), and other chronic diseases that produce symptoms like severe pain, nausea, seizures, or persistent muscle spasms. In additions to being diagnosed with a qualifying condition, all states require a prospective user to obtain his or her physician’s recommendation to use marijuana.

A recommendation is not a prescription (for reasons explained below, this seemingly trivial distinction does matter). To recommend marijuana, the physician need only conclude, after considering other treatment options, that marijuana “may benefit” the patient: 20 as it sounds, this standards appears fairly easy to satisfy. In every state except California, the physician’s recommendation must be made in writing. In California, an oral recommendation is sufficient. Ten states require prospective users (and sometime caregivers and suppliers) to register with the state before using ( handling or cultivating) marijuana for medical purposes. States impose some restrictions on residents who satisfy these criteria. States limit, for example, how much marijuana each qualified patient may lawfully possess at any given time. The limits vary, but most states allow patients to possess between one and three ounces of
“usable marijuana and between six and twelve marijuana plants. A few states allow physicians to set the amount based on the patient’s needs. State also bar qualified patients from using or possessing marijuana in certain contexts, such as on public property or while driving. Medical marijuana laws provide significant legal protection for qualified patients.
Qualified patients are exempt from arrest and prosecution for possessing cultivating, or using marijuana. They are also exempt from every other civil sanction (e.g., forfeiture) that normally applies under state drug laws. For this reason, I claim that states have legalized marijuana, and not merely decriminalized it. Many states go one step further and give qualified patients the right to recover and marijuana that has been seized by state law enforcement agents in the course of an investigation.
And a few bar landlords from terminating the lease of any person who possesses, uses, or cultivates marijuana in compliance with state law.

Reference

Krause, Jason (2006) Growing Practices http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/194380061?accountid-32521 Mikos, Robert A. (2009) On the Limits of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana and the States Overlooked Power to Legalize Federal Crime http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/198883387?accountid-32521 Rodgers, Frederic B. (2010) On Prohibiting the Use of Medical Marijuana by Persons Granted Probation
http://search.proquest.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/810745956?accoutid-32521