Weed Rules: Blazing the Way to a Just and Joyful Marijuana Policy
University of California Press, 2023

Summary: In Weed Rules, Boston University School of Law professor Jay Wexler argues that it’s time for states to abandon their “grudging tolerance” approach to legal weed and to embrace “careful exuberance.” Wexler invites policymakers to responsibly embrace the benefits of cannabis, including the joy and euphoria it brings to those who use it. The “grudging tolerance” approach has led to restrictions that are too strict in some cases, Wexler writes — limiting how and where cannabis can be used, cultivated, marketed, and sold — and far too loose in others, allowing employers and police to discriminate against users. This book shows how focusing on joy and community can lead to an equitable marijuana policy in which minority communities, most harmed by the war on drugs, play a leading role in the industry.

Praise: “Weed Rules is a highly entertaining and user-friendly guide to the complex world of cannabis policy. Jay Wexler combines compelling stories with data and legal analysis to make a persuasive case the way only a marijuana-law professor could. This book will change the cannabis debate.” —Shaleen Title, former commissioner, Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, and founder, Parabola Center for Law and Policy

“Weed Rules is an engaging, thoughtful, and accessible guide for anyone interested in reshaping marijuana policy.” —Robert A. Mikos, author of Marijuana Law, Policy, and Authority

“Wexler believes deeply in the potential of legal weed to improve the human condition — but he’s also a keen realist about how legalization, if implemented wrong, can easily fail to achieve its central justice and welfare goals. This book casts light on several key policy flaws that have often been baked into legalization bills around America and helped keep legal weed from blossoming as hoped. Wexler proposes and enthusiastically defends a set of clear, practical policy alternatives that could help state and federal legalization achieve their higher goals of reducing human suffering and increasing human joy.” —Robin Goldstein, co-author of Can Legal Weed Win?