| Acknowledgments |
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xvii | |
| Introduction |
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xix | |
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PART I MARIJUANA AND PROHIBITION TODAY |
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1 What Is Marijuana and What Would It Mean to Legalize It? |
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3 | (13) |
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What is marijuana legalization? |
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3 | (1) |
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4 | (1) |
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How does it feel to get high? |
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5 | (1) |
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What are the active ingredients in marijuana? |
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6 | (2) |
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What are sinsemilla, "commercial-grade" marijuana, hashish, and hash oil? |
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8 | (1) |
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9 | (1) |
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Has marijuana been getting more potent? |
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9 | (1) |
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10 | (2) |
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How long does intoxication last? |
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12 | (1) |
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How long can marijuana use be detected? |
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13 | (1) |
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Is medical marijuana the same as illegal marijuana? |
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14 | (1) |
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What is synthetic marijuana (Spice or K2)? |
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14 | (2) |
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16 | (15) |
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How many people use marijuana? |
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16 | (1) |
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How is marijuana consumed? |
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17 | (1) |
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How has marijuana use changed over time? |
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18 | (4) |
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How much marijuana do users consume? |
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22 | (2) |
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Can marijuana use lead to dependence or addiction? |
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24 | (1) |
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What are the typical patterns of marijuana use? |
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25 | (1) |
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How common is heavy marijuana use? |
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26 | (2) |
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How does marijuana use vary across the country? |
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28 | (1) |
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What share of marijuana use is high-potency marijuana? |
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28 | (1) |
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How much do users spend on marijuana? |
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29 | (2) |
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3 How Is Marijuana Produced and Distributed Today? |
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31 | (11) |
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How and where is marijuana grown today? |
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31 | (2) |
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How is marijuana currently distributed? |
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33 | (1) |
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How much is marijuana marked up between farm gate, wholesale, and retail? |
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34 | (2) |
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Are prices lower in the Netherlands? California? Elsewhere? |
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36 | (1) |
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Since marijuana is just a plant, why is it so expensive? |
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37 | (2) |
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Is marijuana really the nation's leading cash crop? |
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39 | (2) |
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Does marijuana production really use $5 billion worth of electricity in the United States each year? |
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41 | (1) |
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4 How Stringent Is Marijuana Enforcement in the United States? |
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42 | (12) |
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Who gets arrested for marijuana possession? |
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42 | (3) |
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What happens after those arrests? |
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45 | (2) |
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Who gets arrested for marijuana dealing, production, and importing? |
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47 | (1) |
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Are federal marijuana sentences similar to sentences for heroin and cocaine? |
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48 | (2) |
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How many people are in prison for marijuana offenses? |
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50 | (1) |
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How much does marijuana incarceration and enforcement cost? |
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51 | (1) |
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How much marijuana is seized and eradicated? |
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52 | (2) |
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5 What Are the Risks of Using Marijuana? |
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54 | (28) |
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Why is it difficult to measure the consequences of marijuana use? |
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54 | (2) |
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How do researchers study the risks of marijuana use? |
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56 | (1) |
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What is the likelihood of becoming dependent on marijuana? |
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57 | (2) |
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How bad is marijuana dependency compared to dependency on other drugs? |
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59 | (1) |
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How many users seek treatment for problems with marijuana? |
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60 | (1) |
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Does marijuana treatment work? |
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61 | (1) |
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Can users experience a fatal overdose from marijuana? |
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62 | (2) |
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Can users experience a nonfatal overdose from using too much marijuana? |
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64 | (1) |
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Does marijuana use cause emphysema and other respiratory problems? |
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65 | (1) |
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Does marijuana use cause cancer? |
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65 | (2) |
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How much harm does secondhand marijuana smoke cause? |
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67 | (1) |
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Is marijuana a "gateway drug"? |
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68 | (2) |
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Does using marijuana cause schizophrenia and other mental health problems? |
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70 | (4) |
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Does using marijuana influence crime and delinquency? |
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74 | (2) |
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Does marijuana use affect education and employment? |
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76 | (1) |
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Does marijuana use cause automobile crashes? |
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77 | (2) |
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Does parental marijuana use influence child welfare? |
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79 | (3) |
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6 What Is Known about the Nonmedical Benefits of Using Marijuana? |
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82 | (12) |
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Why don't we know more about the benefits of marijuana use? |
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83 | (1) |
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Would we know more about the benefits if it were legal? |
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84 | (1) |
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Is there a "stoned" way of thinking? |
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85 | (2) |
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Is "stoned thinking" valuable? |
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87 | (1) |
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Does marijuana use enhance creativity? |
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88 | (2) |
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Can marijuana enhance athletic performance? |
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90 | (1) |
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What role does cannabis play in worship? |
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90 | (1) |
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So there's no real evidence of any benefits? |
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91 | (1) |
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Why should mere pleasure count as a benefit? |
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91 | (3) |
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7 What Are the Medicinal Benefits of Using Marijuana? |
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94 | (13) |
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Does marijuana have medical value? |
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94 | (4) |
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Why isn't marijuana available as a regular prescription drug? |
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98 | (2) |
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But isn't smoking unhealthy? |
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100 | (1) |
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How about using one or more cannabinoids instead of the whole plant? |
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101 | (1) |
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How much "medical marijuana" use is actually medical? |
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102 | (5) |
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PART II LEGALIZATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES |
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8 What Are the Pros and Cons of Legalization Generally? |
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107 | (20) |
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What does it mean to legalize a drug? |
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107 | (1) |
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Are there shades of legalization? |
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108 | (2) |
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Why have drug laws in the first place? |
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110 | (1) |
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Why even consider legalizing a substance whose use creates harm? |
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111 | (3) |
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Wouldn't the results of a policy that treated marijuana like alcohol be an improvement over the current mess? |
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114 | (1) |
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But wasn't alcohol prohibition in the United States a complete failure? |
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115 | (1) |
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But doesn't everyone know that Prohibition led to a big increase in homicides? |
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116 | (1) |
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How much of the increase in consumption after legalization would reflect increased heavy use rather than increased casual use? |
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116 | (2) |
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Can't the effects of marketing be reined in by regulations and taxes? |
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118 | (1) |
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What about legal availability without free trade? Couldn't that work? |
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119 | (1) |
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Isn't it impossible to make someone better off by coercing behavioral change? |
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119 | (2) |
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If people choose to harm themselves with drugs, why is that anyone else's business? |
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121 | (3) |
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But isn't everyone with an addictive personality already addicted to something? |
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124 | (1) |
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If the results of legalization are uncertain, why not just try it out, and go back to the current system if legalization doesn't work? |
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125 | (2) |
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9 How Is Legalization of Marijuana Different from Legalization of Other Drugs? |
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127 | (11) |
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How does legalizing marijuana compare to legalizing all drugs? |
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127 | (1) |
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Isn't marijuana different from other drugs? It's natural, it's not addictive, and it's not toxic |
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128 | (1) |
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If marijuana accounts for half of all drug arrests, would legalizing marijuana free up half of our prison cells? |
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129 | (1) |
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How much drug-related crime, violence, and corruption would marijuana legalization eliminate? |
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130 | (1) |
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Would legalization increase marijuana use and dependence by as much as legalization of crack and other drugs would increase their markets? |
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131 | (2) |
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Would more marijuana use lead to more alcohol abuse, or less? |
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133 | (2) |
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If alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana, what's the logical justification for one being legal and the other illegal? |
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135 | (2) |
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Could it be reasonable to support legalizing marijuana but not other drugs? |
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137 | (1) |
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Can two reasonable people sensibly disagree about marijuana legalization? |
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137 | (1) |
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10 What Is the Context of the Marijuana Legalization Debate? |
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138 | (13) |
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How does legalization differ from decriminalization or depenalization? |
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138 | (1) |
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How many countries allow commercial marijuana production? |
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139 | (1) |
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Has support for legalization in the United States been growing? |
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140 | (1) |
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Who supports and opposes marijuana legalization in the United States? |
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141 | (2) |
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Who supported Proposition 19 and why? |
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143 | (1) |
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Why are voters sometimes bolder than the people they elect? |
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144 | (1) |
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Would marijuana legalization violate international conventions? |
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145 | (1) |
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Does Dutch policy violate these international conventions? |
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146 | (1) |
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What are the consequences for violating international conventions? |
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147 | (1) |
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Could these international treaties be changed? |
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148 | (3) |
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11 What If Marijuana Were Treated Like Alcohol? |
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151 | (33) |
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What special regulations could apply to legal marijuana? |
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152 | (3) |
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Could advertising be restricted in the United States? |
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155 | (1) |
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How could marijuana be taxed? |
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156 | (1) |
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Would regulations and taxes in practice approach the public health ideal? |
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157 | (1) |
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How much enforcement would regulation and taxation require? |
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158 | (1) |
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Would there be any marijuana-related arrests after legalization? |
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159 | (1) |
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Why aren't prices in Dutch coffee shops and California medical dispensaries a good indicator of prices after legalization? |
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160 | (1) |
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How much would legal marijuana cost to produce? |
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160 | (3) |
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How many people would be employed in marijuana production? |
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163 | (1) |
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What would the pretax retail price be for unbranded marijuana? |
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164 | (2) |
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What would the after-tax retail price be for unbranded marijuana? |
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166 | (3) |
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What would the retail price be for branded and other forms of marijuana? |
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169 | (2) |
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Would businesses give legal marijuana away free? |
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171 | (1) |
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How much would consumption increase? |
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172 | (3) |
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Does the marijuana trade fund drug violence in Mexico? |
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175 | (2) |
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Does legalization make sense from an overall social welfare (benefit-cost) perspective? |
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177 | (7) |
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12 Could One State Legalize Marijuana If the Federal Government Didn't? |
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184 | (14) |
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Could a state simply repeal its marijuana laws? |
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184 | (2) |
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Could a state regulate and tax a substance that the federal government still prohibited? |
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186 | (1) |
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What about the reverse: If the federal government legalized marijuana, could a state still prohibit it? |
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187 | (1) |
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What could the federal government do if one state legalized marijuana for nonmedical use? |
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187 | (3) |
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What is the federal government doing in states that allow medical marijuana? |
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190 | (2) |
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How would production and production costs change if marijuana were legal in one state but not the entire country? |
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192 | (2) |
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How would legalization in one state affect markets and use in other states? |
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194 | (1) |
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Does it matter whether legalization is enacted by legislation or by voter proposition? |
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195 | (2) |
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Could states learn from one another's experience? |
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197 | (1) |
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13 How Would Marijuana Legalization Affect Me Personally? |
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198 | (9) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm an adult regular marijuana user? |
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198 | (2) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm dependent on marijuana? |
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200 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm an occasional marijuana user? |
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200 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm not currently a marijuana user? |
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201 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm a medical marijuana patient? |
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202 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm a marijuana grower? |
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203 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I lead a Mexican drug trafficking organization (DTO)? |
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203 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm a parent of a teenager? |
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204 | (1) |
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How would legalization affect me if I'm an employer? |
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205 | (2) |
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14 Between Marijuana Prohibition and Commercial Legalization: Is there Any Middle Ground? |
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207 | (18) |
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Is there a middle ground between legalization and prohibition? |
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207 | (1) |
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What has been learned from depenalization and decriminalization? |
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208 | (2) |
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What about legalizing the way Portugal did (not do)? |
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210 | (3) |
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What about imitating the Dutch approach? |
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213 | (1) |
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What about just allowing home production, as Alaska does? |
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214 | (2) |
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What about creating user co-ops, as in Spain? |
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216 | (2) |
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What about a very liberal medical marijuana system? |
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218 | (1) |
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What about limiting the quantity any user can buy? |
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219 | (2) |
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Couldn't users go to physicians for nonmedical marijuana, making it the doctor's business to prevent problem-use patterns? |
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221 | (1) |
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What if distribution were controlled by a government monopoly? |
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221 | (4) |
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15 Can Industrial Hemp Save the Planet? (Written with Christina Farber) |
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225 | (8) |
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225 | (1) |
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Do other countries allow legalized hemp? |
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226 | (1) |
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Could the United States allow industrial hemp without legalizing marijuana? |
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227 | (2) |
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Would allowing industrial hemp in the United States save the planet? |
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229 | (2) |
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How big is the potential market if the United States legalized industrial hemp? |
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231 | (2) |
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16 What Do the Authors Think about Marijuana Legalization? |
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233 | (16) |
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233 | (5) |
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238 | (2) |
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240 | (4) |
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244 | (5) |
| Bibliography |
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249 | (6) |
| Index |
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255 | |
