State Medical Marijuana Laws: Understanding the Laws and their Limitations

Since the 1970s, numerous states have had medical marijuana laws. However, public policy makers, activists and the media have given significant attention to the debate regarding allowances for medical marijuana use since the 1996 California and Arizona ballot initiatives. Much of this on-going debate stems from confusion about the various ways states approach the issues.

This paper presents original legal research on current state medical marijuana laws, identifying four different ways states statutorily enable the medical use of marijuana. It discusses the implications of the other approaches in terms of tensions with federal statutes, and how the choice of statutory approach has important implications regarding patient impact. Additionally, it discusses the implication of various supply approaches on the enforcement of other state marijuana laws.

http://www.impacteen.org/generalarea_PDFs/medicalmarijuanapaper100301.pdf

195K

Publication Year: 2001

Publisher

ImpacTeen Program Office
UIC Health Research and Policy Centers
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Phone: 312-413-0475
Website: http://www.impacteen.org/
Email: impcteen@uic.edu