Justice Talking: Marijuana Laws

Key terms:
Marijuana: the dried leaves and female flowers of the hemp plant, used in cigarette
form as a narcotic or hallucinogen.
Hemp: a tall, coarse plant that is cultivated in many parts of the world and is the
source of a valuable fiber
Medical marijuana: refers to the parts of the herb cannabis used as a physician-
recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy
Marijuana legalization: there is no crime, violation, civil offense or anything for the
use, production or distribution of marijuana
Marijuana decriminalization: Small amounts of marijuana would be punishable with a
warning or fine but no jail time


Medical Marijuana
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, PhD: Co-director of RAND Drug Policy Research Center; Faculty
Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Pacula supports the use of
medical marijuana and spoke exclusively on the federal and state laws regarding its use.
She in is favor of the medical marijuana law in the state of Hawaii which has a registry of
patients with a medical marijuana card which is easy to identify by law enforcement,
indicates the amount that the patient is allowed to buy or grow and must be renewed
annually with doctors approval.

Marijuana Decriminalization Debate
Ethan Nadelmann is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New
York City-based non-profit organization working to end the War on Drugs. Mr. Nadelmann is
an advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. He supports laws that will no longer
punish individuals with criminal penalties for using marijuana and is in favor of treating it like
a traffic fine. Mr. Nadelmann does not believe that decriminalization of marijuana will not
increase use, the biggest risk of using marijuana is getting arrested and believes that
alcohol & nicotine are more dangerous than marijuana, although both drugs are legal.
Herbert D. Kleber, M.D., has been a pioneer in research and treatment of substance abuse
for over 35 years. From 1968 to 1989, he founded and headed the Drug Dependence Unit
at Yale University, where he was Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Kleber is against the
decriminalization of marijuana. He believes that decriminalization is a stepping stone to full
legalization and it will increase the amount of people who use the drug. Dr. Kleber believes
that marijuana users have a greater of risk of using harder drugs as marijuana could be
considered a gateway drug. He also believes that marijuana causes medical problems that
believe its risk to using a gateway drug and causes medical problems that researchers
were recently unaware of.

Hemp Store
Kyle Pulliam, owner of Hemp in the Heartland, a retail outlet for all types of industrial hemp
products. Clothing, accessories, home goods, food products. Based on the brief interview,
Mr. Pulliam supports the growth and use of industrial hemp. Hemp, a cousin of marijuana, is
great for agriculture, can be used to make clothing and food products and hemp seed is
high in protein.

Hemp and Agriculture
Jean Rawson is a specialist in agriculture policy with the Congressional Research Service
and has written a number of agricultural reports under the hemp commodity. Ms. Rawson
appears to support the growth of industrialized hemp. In one of her reports, Ms. Rawson
quoted a 2007 Canadian government update on hemp production Hemps remarkable
advantages are hard to beat. It thrives without herbicide, it reinvigorates the soil, it requires
less water than cotton, it matures in three to four months, it can yield four times as much
paper per acre than trees, it can create building materials that are twice as strong as wood
and concrete, textile fibers that is stronger than cotton, better oil paint than petroleum, clean
burning diesel fuel and biodegradable plastics. When asked if this was miracle crop,
Ms..Rawson responded, Youre not entirely wrong.

Pro-Hemp Farmer
David Monson is a Republican Representative who has been a member of the North Dakota
State Legislature since 1995. Representative Monson farms on his familys farm as is in
support of the production of industrial hemp. He wants to force the federal government to
consider hemp production in the United States. He is interested in growing it because of the
potential money that could be made in hemp production as he believes that it is a very
lucrative crop.

Hemp and Law Enforcement
John Lovell is a lawyer and lobbyist for the California Narcotics Officers Association. Mr.
Lovell is against the production of industrialized hemp. The eradication of marijuana is
severely compromised by the growth of him because it is hard to discern the two from each
other, the costs to test hemp for THC contents is too great and hemp growers could be
growing marijuana under the guise of it being hemp with no way to immediately determine
otherwise. Mr. Lovell does not believe that hemp is the hot crop supporters claim it to be.


Summary:
I support the use of medical marijuana. As we have seen with many disorders, the medical
treatments that have been used come with both benefits and risks to the patient. Many
patients feel that the benefits outweigh the risks, which is a decision that should be made
between the physician and their patient, not the government. I support the legalization and
decriminalization of medical marijuana. I believe that the legalization of nicotine and alcohol,
despite its negative effects, only justifies why marijuana should be legal. Im not a medical
doctor so I wont claim to know which of the three is more dangerous but I will say that I
dont believe that marijuana is any more dangerous than nicotine and alcohol. I realize that
legalization would come with ramifications but I think its worth the attempt. Prior to this
assignment, I can admit that I had very little knowledge about hemp and its agricultural
benefits. Considering is has no THC content, I support the growth of industrial marijuana.
Again, I believe we need to consider the advantages and the disadvantages but ultimately
allow the people of the United States to have a say in what happens in this country. The
debate on marijuana is way beyond medical use its political as well.