Now, for the first time, we have the opportunity to change course. Experiments with alternatives to the harsh ban are already underway in Germany and abroad. Twenty-three states as well as the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana, and four — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — as well as DC Pot have been fully legalized. Several other states, including Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada, are expected to vote in November on whether to do the same. Portugal has decriminalized not only marijuana, but also cocaine and heroin, as well as all other drugs. In Vermont, heroin addicts can avoid prison by engaging in publicly funded treatment. Canada launched a pilot program in Vancouver in 2014 to allow doctors to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade heroin to addicts, Switzerland has a similar program, and the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee recommended that the United Kingdom do the same. Last July, Chile began a legislative process to legalize medical and recreational marijuana use, allowing households to grow up to six plants. After telling the BBC in December that “if you`re fighting a war for forty years and you don`t win, you have to sit down and think about other things that might be more effective,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos legalized medical marijuana by decree. In November, Mexico`s Supreme Court took the debate to a new level, ruling that banning marijuana use violated the Mexican constitution by encroaching on the “personal sphere,” the “right to dignity,” and the right to “personal autonomy.” Brazil`s Supreme Court is considering a similar argument.
But as long as federal law in the U.S. maintains an absolute ban on marijuana, cocaine and heroin — and strict restrictions on methamphetamine — it`s hard to imagine state monopolies modeled on state-owned liquor stores. Even if international prohibitions on List I drugs were lifted, could our legislators muster the will to legalize them, let alone expand the government to distribute them? It is one thing for the Chief Executive to turn a blind eye to the experiences of states in the licensed trade in marijuana; It`s quite another to crush the gears and change conservative sensibilities in Congress. Pressure to legalize marijuana has increased in recent years in the states, but many have been slow to agree on how to regulate the drug. Dan Baum warns, “We could live better with these dangerous substances if we changed the way we think about them.” David McNew/Getty Images Hide caption It was relatively easy to crack down on unlicensed producers and train police officers. What will be more difficult is to prevent big business from dominating the exercise and manipulating the game. Even though only four states and the District of Columbia have been legalized and only twenty-three states allow medical use of marijuana, legitimate production is already a $5.4 billion industry. Forbes published a list of the “8 Hottest Public Marijuana Companies.” Cannabis inventories include biotechnology companies, manufacturers of specialty vending machines, and manufacturers of vaporizers that allow tar-free inhalation or combustion. The combined value of marijuana inventories increased by 50% in 2013 and 150% in the first three weeks of 2014 before stabilizing at a still impressive gain of 38% for the year.
In September 2014, MJardin, a manufacturer of turnkey producers, announced that it was considering an IPO. Even the Wall Street Journal analyzes marijuana as a serious investment opportunity. These huge bets are placed at a time when recreational marijuana is still illegal in forty-six states and under federal law. Colorado has allowed medical marijuana since 2000 through a system of licensed private dispensaries. Originally, the state required marijuana businesses to be vertically integrated; Pharmacies could only sell what they had grown themselves – a replica of the old tied houses. The theory was that it was easier to regulate “seed-to-sale” businesses. In November 2012, 55% of voters approved Amendment 64 to the Colorado Constitution, which legalized recreational marijuana. (The initiative was strategically planned; Marijuana on the ballot helped lure young, progressive voters to the polls to win the state over President Obama.) After the election, Colorado opted for a system of licensed companies rather than a state monopoly; In 2014, the requirement dropped that recreational pharmacies must be vertically integrated – one company can now grow marijuana for another to sell. Once Governor John Hickenlooper made the results official, five weeks after the vote, Coloradoans twenty-one years of age and older could legally possess and use marijuana. However, shops and commercial producers were not allowed to open until January 2014, fourteen months after the vote. The delay was intended to give the state time to expand the Marijuana Enforcement Division within the Treasury Department to include marijuana retailing in its jurisdiction and allow the department to write rules for signage, advertising, waste disposal, video surveillance, labeling, taxes and required distances from schools. The impact of legalization on crime was difficult to determine.
Overall, crime in Denver dropped nearly 2 percent in 2014, the first year marijuana legalized. And curiously, surveys of 40,000 teens before and after legalization showed that even though fewer people thought marijuana was harmful — just as opponents of legalization had predicted — fewer smoked weed. Did they lie? Was it a statistical anomaly? Are pot traders harder to find now that they are competing with legal businesses? Or is it possible that once marijuana was legalized, it lost its seal of approval? This is a pity, because a state monopoly would be the cheapest and most flexible way to legalize drugs. It would generate the most revenue and, more importantly, protect public health. Until Congress renumbers marijuana, heroin, and cocaine, and until we overcome the idea that the government can`t do anything right, we`ll stick to the second best: government experiments that ignore federal marijuana prohibition and allow private industries.