Summary
During the winter quarter, students enrolled in California Proposition 64 and Marijuana Policy, a Stanford Law School policy lab, researched the many challenges that the state will face in implementing this new law, including decisions about how to regulate a massive new industry and how to negotiate a complex relationship with the federal government. Working with their “client,” California Assemblyman Jim Wood, who represents the so-called “Emerald Triangle” counties (Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity), the students analyzed how to reconcile Prop 64 with existing legislation on medical marijuana and explored options for addressing several gaps in Prop 64, including the environmental damage caused by marijuana cultivation and the need for a rational DUI standard for drivers who have used marijuana.
In this Q&A, the lab’s co-directors, Professors Rob MacCoun (Professor of Law) and Keith Humphreys (Professor of Psychiatry), discuss the findings of their students’ newly-released white paper, Implementing Proposition 64: Marijuana Policy in California.
First, can you briefly outline the main points of Proposition 64, which California residents passed last year to legalize recreational use of marijuana?
Prop 64 (“The Adult Use of Marijuana Act” or AUMA) legalized the recreational use of marijuana for Californians aged 21 or older. Users can possess up to 28.5 grams and can grow up to six plants. Prop 64 also created a system of licensed growers and sellers.
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