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State Medical Marijuana Laws

Understanding the Laws and Their Limitations

Published in: Journal of Public Health Policy, v. 23, no. 4, 2002. p. 413-439

Posted on RAND.org on January 01, 2002

by Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, Jamie F. Chriqui, Deborah A. Reichmann, Yvonne M. Terry-McElrath

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Significant attention has been given to the debate regarding allowances for medical marijuana use since the 1996 California and Arizona ballot initiatives. State medical marijuana allowances, however, have existed since the mid-1970s. Much of the current debate stems from confusion about the various ways states approach the issue. In this paper, the authors present original legal research on current state medical marijuana laws identifying four different ways states statutorily enable the medical use of marijuana. They discuss the tension these approaches have with federal law as well as their implications regarding real access for patients. In addition, they present information on how a small number of states are trying to deal with the issue of access within the context of their medical marijuana laws, and discuss the implication of various supply approaches on the enforcement of other state marijuana laws.

Access further information on this document at www.palgrave-journals.com

This article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.

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