Cannabis

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Disinformation Amid the Israel-Hamas War, U.S. Gun Policy, Cannabis: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the information war may play out between Israel and Hamas, what the evidence says (and doesn't say) about U.S. gun policy, supply models for recreational cannabis, and more.

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Cannabis Legalization in Europe: Planning Ahead

Since 2012, multiple jurisdictions have changed their laws to legalize the production, possession, and use of cannabis for nonmedical purposes. While most of these changes took place in the Americas, there are signs that the European legal landscape might be changing, too.

Mafalda Pardal @PardalMafalda

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Legalizing Cannabis, the Russian Nuclear Threat, Digital Offshoring: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on cannabis legalization, the Russian nuclear threat, the effects of digital offshoring, and more.

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What's Next After Biden's Announcement on Cannabis and Racial Equity?

Cannabis legalization isn't just a yes-or-no choice. There are many ways for state and federal policymakers to shape the market and tax it. With deliberations in Washington, D.C., beginning and more states set to vote on the issue in November, now is the time for lawmakers to take stock of how potential changes will or won't help communities of color.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Russia and Ukraine, Climate Migration, Democracy in Asia: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Russia and Ukraine, planning for climate migration, the state of democracy in Asia, and more.

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Green Light for Cannabis Legalisation in Germany Is Not a Clear-Cut Decision

The new “traffic light” coalition in Germany recently agreed to regulate the sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops. International experience has shown that great care is needed in how cannabis policy is shaped.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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Army Enlistment Waivers in the Age of Legal Marijuana

Army recruits with a history of marijuana use can ask for a waiver like those who have diabetes or insomnia. They are just as likely as others to complete their first term and make sergeant, and are less likely to leave the Army for health or performance reasons.

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Keeping COVID-19 Vaccines Moving, the Capitol Attack, Media Literacy: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on keeping COVID-19 vaccines moving to save more lives; why we need a national commission to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack; media literacy as a tool to counter "Truth Decay," and more.

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Don't Entangle COVID-19 Relief with Cannabis Legalization

Cannabis legalization is a multifaceted decision that has implications for health, safety, and social equity. Whether legalization could fund COVID-19 relief should not be a major focus of debates.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Beyond Bans: How Cannabis Policy Reform Can Reduce Vaping-Related Illnesses

Policymakers can wield a multitude of tools to address vaping-related illness. Cannabis policy reform is one option. But policymakers may face challenges in balancing comprehensive regulatory design that promotes product safety with its potential to bolster the illegal and unregulated market.

Amanda Mauri, Rebecca Lee Haffajee

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Hong Kong, Reducing Crime, Medical Marijuana: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what the U.S. can do about Hong Kong, reducing crime in Chicago, medical marijuana, and more.

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Gun Policy, Cannabis, ISIS: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap looks at gun policy in America, the cannabis market in Washington state, countering an ISIS comeback, and more.

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Iran, School Discipline, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the costs of U.S.–Iran confrontation, discipline reform in America's schools, why the North Korea problem is bigger than nukes, and more.

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Mueller Report, ISIS Leader, Brexit: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the Mueller report might affect Russia, the emergence of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, uncertainty over Brexit, and more.

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Data Breaches, Marijuana, Turkey: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on consumer reactions to data breaches, understanding teen marijuana use after legalization, why the United States can't rely on Turkey to defeat ISIS, and more.

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Refugees, Brexit, Cannabis: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how Syrian refugees can contribute to local economies, prospects for Brexit, marijuana legalization, and more.

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Navigating Cannabis Legalization 2.0

As the next round of states debate marijuana legalization, they would do well to contemplate allowing state governments to control the wholesale prices and linking the price of cannabis to its potency.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer, Mark A. R. Kleiman

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How Marijuana Ads Affect Youth: Q&A with Elizabeth D'Amico

RAND's Elizabeth D'Amico discusses her research on how medical marijuana advertising influences adolescents' use of—and positive attitudes toward—the drug. Los Angeles County used her findings to limit the placement of marijuana billboards and signage outside dispensaries.

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Why Children Need to Be Shielded from Marijuana Ads

By design, advertising is aimed at persuading us to want something. In the case of marijuana, that something is definitely not good for teenagers.

Elizabeth J. D'Amico

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Advertising and Teens in the Era of the 'Blackout Brownie'

Exposure to marijuana advertising may play a significant role in shaping teen attitudes about the drug, and contribute to increased marijuana use and related negative consequences throughout adolescence. Restrictions on marijuana advertising similar to those on alcohol and tobacco would likely help limit its exposure to teens.

Elizabeth J. D'Amico

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Strategies to Help Young Adults Limit Negative Consequences of Marijuana Use

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have been shown to be the most prevalent and problematic users of marijuana. There are proven strategies that people can use to help protect themselves from experiencing harmful effects.

Eric R. Pedersen @ericrpedersen

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How Will Cannabis Legalization Affect Alcohol Consumption?

How will legalization of recreational marijuana affect alcohol consumption? Will drinking go down because people substitute cannabis for alcohol? Or will drinking go up because cannabis and alcohol complement each other? These questions have important implications.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer, Rosanna Smart @RosannaSmart

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The Future of Cannabis in the Netherlands

The Netherlands should proceed cautiously in implementing any marijuana regulations, taking into account the models devised elsewhere and remembering that once enacted the rules will be difficult to change.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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Trump's Marijuana Options

The new administration has at least six options for addressing marijuana. These are not mutually exclusive, and each comes with tradeoffs. All six are compatible with a federal approach that encourages discussions about prohibition and its alternatives.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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The Legal Marijuana Middle Ground

There are many ways to legalize marijuana supply besides the for-profit approach. But to learn what effects various models have, the federal government will have to make it easier for states to implement some middle-ground options.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Election 2016: The Domestic Issues

RAND offers a unique take on the big domestic issues facing America: research that is independent, reliable, and rigorously nonpartisan.

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What Your Kids Need to Know About Marijuana, Legalized or Not

If you are a parent, no matter how you feel about legalizing marijuana, you need to be prepared to talk about the drug with your kids.

Elizabeth J. D'Amico

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Your Questions About Marijuana Legalization, Answered

At least five states will vote on legal recreational marijuana this November. Drug policy expert Beau Kilmer hosted an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit to shed light on this and other issues.

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Promises and Pitfalls of Cannabis Taxes

Setting the cannabis tax should not be considered a one-time event. Smart jurisdictions will revise their decisions over time to incorporate new data about taxes, testing, and the cannabis plant itself — without being influenced by those seeking to maximize profits.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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A Summer Reading List for Congress

To help Hill staffers make the most of the Congressional recess, RAND has developed a list of must-read research and commentaries that will help ensure policymakers will return ready to hit the ground running.

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Researcher Q&A: Beau Kilmer on the State of Marijuana Legalization

Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and a co-author of the nonpartisan primer Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know addresses developments in marijuana policy and why reasonable people can disagree about legalization.

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If California Legalizes Marijuana, Consumption Will Likely Increase. But Is That a Bad Thing?

Legalizing and allowing profit-maximizing firms to produce, sell, and advertise recreational marijuana would likely increase marijuana consumption. But how would this increased consumption influence the use of other substances?

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Making Prevention a Priority

A bill legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes in Vermont has a strong possibility of passing. Lawmakers and communities should focus on putting in place drug prevention programs aimed at young people, considering that their marijuana use is higher in Vermont than the national average.

Matthew Chinman

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The 10 Ps of Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana policy is a growing topic of discussion, and laws are starting to change. Ten choices confronting jurisdictions considering legalization cover many of the critical decisions that will determine whether removing prohibition is a good idea.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Unprecedented Changes in Marijuana Policy

The marijuana policy landscape changed dramatically in 2014. Legal sales for nonmedical purposes began in Colorado and in Washington state. Voters in Washington, D.C., Alaska, and Oregon passed initiatives to liberalize their marijuana laws. Uruguay also started implementing its marijuana legalization law.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Taking a Sober Look at Legalizing Marijuana

California and a handful of other states will probably vote on legal pot in 2016. Here are five suggestions to help policymakers who want to promote productive discussions.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Are We Entering a New Era of Cannabis Regulation?

Although international drug treaties prohibit the production, distribution, and possession of cannabis for non-medical and non-scientific purposes, several jurisdictions have implemented new laws and policies, including some that remove criminal penalties for possession of small doses of cannabis.

Kristy Kruithof, Mafalda Pardal @PardalMafalda

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Legalising Cannabis Is More Than Just a Yes or No Decision

Any truly honest discussion about how to regulate cannabis markets must start with clear objectives and goals. How these markets are opened can be as important as the decision to legalise cannabis.

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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U.S. Needs to Improve Community-Based Drug, Alcohol Prevention

As familiar as Americans are with the problems of youth drug and alcohol abuse, we are not identifying all the potential solutions. While observers criticize overemphasis in U.S. policy on enforcement and scant resources devoted to treatment, the focus on these approaches often ignores a key piece of the puzzle: prevention.

Matthew Chinman, Joie D. Acosta, et al.

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The Feds' Role After Legalization

Since Colorado and Washington allow profit-maximizing firms to grow and sell marijuana, there is concern they will use advertising to promote consumption by heavy users. With help from the federal government, the states will be better positioned to head off the negative consequences associated with commercialization.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Has U.S. Gone Further Than Netherlands Over Marijuana?

Colorado and Washington will remove the prohibition on commercial marijuana production and distribution for nonmedical purposes and start regulating and taxing it. Not even the Netherlands goes that far, writes Beau Kilmer.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Legalization in the U.S. and Crime in Mexico

Driving Mexican marijuana out of the U.S. would probably reduce the traffickers' export revenue by a few billion dollars a year, writes Beau Kilmer. But would reducing that revenue lead to a corresponding decrease in trafficker violence?

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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7 Key Questions on Marijuana Legalization

Policymakers in Washington and Colorado are confronting some new and tricky issues that have never been addressed. For them, and for anyone else thinking about changing their pot laws, there are seven key decision areas that will shape the costs and benefits of marijuana legalization.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Ask Me Anything: Beau Kilmer Answers Drug Policy Questions on Reddit

Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and coauthor of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know, hosted an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session on Reddit this week.

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How Might the Federal Government React if States Legalize Marijuana?

This November, Washington state, Oregon, and Colorado voters will consider ballot measures to legalize the production, distribution, and possession of marijuana for nonmedical purposes. Even if voters pass these measures at the state level, marijuana will still be prohibited by the federal government, writes Beau Kilmer.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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Important Facts About Marijuana Legalization

An excerpt from Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know, by Jonathan P. Caulkins, Angela Hawken, Beau Kilmer, Mark A. R. Kleiman, published by Oxford University Press (c) 2012 Oxford University Press.

Jonathan P. Caulkins, Angela Hawken, et al.

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The Marijuana Exception

Being honest about the uncertainties involved is the price of admission to any serious discussion about marijuana legalization, writes Beau Kilmer.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer