No Rational Basis: The Pragmatic Case for Marijuana Law Reform
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law
Abstract
This article presents a critique of marijuana prohibition and suggests some alternative regulatory approaches that would be more productive and consonant with justice. Part I relies on a forty-year empirical record to demonstrate that (1) reliance on a law enforcement approach has aggravated rather than mitigated the risks involved with marijuana use, and (2) criminalization, which results in the arrest of more than 700,000 Americans annually for possession of any amount of marijuana, is an inhumane and destructive response to an act that almost 100 million Americans have committed. Part II assesses the relative merits of several alternative reform policies, including both decriminalization and legalization under a regulatory scheme.
First Page
43
Last Page
82
Publication Date
2009
Recommended Citation
Eric Blumenson & Eva Nilsen, No Rational Basis: The Pragmatic Case for Marijuana Law Reform, 17 Va. J. of Soc. Pol'y & L. 43 (2009).
Creative Commons License
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