Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Marijuana Liberalization Policies: Why We Can't Learn Much from Policy Still in Motion

2013; Wiley; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/pam.21726

1520-6688

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Eric L. Sevigny,

Homelessness and Social Issues

California legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes nearly 17 years ago, representing a major challenge to the federal government's scheduling of marijuana as a Schedule I drug in the 1970 Controlled Substance Act.As many predicted, California was simply the first.As of May 2013, 19 states and the District of Columbia now provide legal protection to patients, and in many cases caregivers, for possession and supply of marijuana for medicinal purposes.In November 2012, Colorado and Washington went even further legalizing the sale and possession of marijuana for recreational purposes.Given the tremendous natural experiment that is taking place, one might expect that much would already be known about the benefits and harms of liberalizing marijuana policies.Unfortunately, however, the tremendous uncertainty regarding what protections actually exist, and for whom, in addition to the enormous heterogeneity in the medical marijuana laws that continue to change over time, has meant that we do not yet know as much as we should.