Marijuana Legalization ─ What Everyone Needs to Know

Should marijuana be legalized? Since 2012 four US states have legalized commercial for-profit marijuana production and use, while Washington DC has legalized possession, growth and gifting of limited amounts of the plant. Other states, and even cities, have decriminalized possession, allowed for medical use, or reduced possession to a misdemeanor. While marijuana is forbidden by international treaties and by national and local laws across the globe, polls show that public support for legalization has continued to increase steadily over time. So why does the issue of marijuana legalization continue to be so controversial?

One short answer is that it is an extremely complicated business, with approaches toward legalization just within the United States varying widely. What's more, not all supporters of "legalization" agree on what it is they want to legalize: Just using marijuana? Growing it? Selling it? Advertising it? If sales are to be legal, what regulations and taxes should apply? Different forms of legalization have demonstrated very different results.

This second edition of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know® provides readers with a non-partisan primer covering everything from the risks and benefits of using marijuana to what is happening with marijuana policy in the United States and abroad. The authors discuss the costs and benefits of legalization at the state and national levels and explore the "middle ground" of policy options between prohibition and commercialized production. The book also considers the personal impact of marijuana legalization on parents, heavy users, medical users, employers, and even drug traffickers.

Jonathan P. Caulkins is H. Guyford Stever Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Public Policy and Information Systems Management. He specializes in systems analysis of problems pertaining to drugs, crime, terror, violence, and prevention - work that won the David Kershaw Award from the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management, a Robert Wood Johnson Health Investigator Award, and the INFORMS President's Award.

Beau Kilmer is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, where he codirects the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. His research has appeared in leading journals and his commentaries about marijuana have been published by CNN,Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Newsweek, San FranciscoChronicle, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other outlets.

Mark A.R. Kleiman is a Professor of Public Policy and the Director of the Crime Reduction and Justice Initiative at New York University's Marron Institute of Urban Management. He is a member of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Research Council, and is a frequent guest expert in the media. He is the author of five books on drug and criminal justice policy.