Marijuana legalization won big in 2016, with sales hitting an all-time high of $6.7 billion. In addition, eight more states voted "yes" in favor of legalization - making that more than half of the states legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use.
Yet even if 60% of the country's adult population thinks marijuana shouldn't be illegal at a federal level, some factors still hinder its legalization.
So we sought out some of the most respected experts in the industry and asked what they thought were the obstacles to marijuana legalization. Here's what they had to say:
No developed economic structure, lack of significant research, and banking issues
Marijuana legalization has come a long way in three years - but many challenges to full legitimacy remain.
Three years after Colorado and Washington State began to move the goalposts on the legalization of marijuana fundamentally, the world looks very different. That said, as much as things change, there are still big challenges ahead for the legalization camp just about everywhere.
These include:
Full Legalization: There has yet to be a developed powerhouse of an economy to fully legalize the drug and integrate it into commercial pipelines (medically or recreationally) as "just another" product. Canada appears to be the first Western country to fully legalize the drug this year. Germany just became the first country in the world to integrate medicine into its mainstream medical infrastructure and insurance coverage.
More research: Countries outside of Israel so far have not committed significant resources to research the medical impact of the drug. In the United States and every country except Germany, medical trials have been hindered by the current classification of marijuana as having no "medical efficacy."
Banking: While this is primarily an issue in the U.S. because of the drug's federal classification, that is still a large and influential market. The multi-billion dollar industry still has to do business largely in cash.
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Lack of education about the effectiveness of cannabis
I think continuing to push research to the forefront will stop the naysayers who think cannabis isn't effective.
We've discovered so much about what this plant is capable of these last ten years that I think it's blown everyone's mind. And then that pushes us to education.
When people understand something, they're more comfortable and ok with it, especially when they realize this plant is helping people and not hurting society like it's been demonized.
Imagine where we'll be legally and research-wise in another ten years. We've just rediscovered the most amazing plant on this planet.
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Marijuana's psychoactive effects
Legal advocates downplay how THC affects memory, thought, concentration, time-depth perception, and coordinated movement.
However, when THC acts on cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, it interferes with normal brain development (especially in teens) and function. Driving or operating machines while high on weed is dangerous!... and state or federal governments will need to weigh risks vs. benefits to public health when it comes to legalization.
Lee Weber is the editor of Addiction Blog, a site tackling addiction treatment. She manages the blog, whose contributors are industry leaders interested in the field. Follow their page on Facebook: /Addiction-blog/.
Suspicion from the Pharma industry and ideological resistance
From our point of view, it's just a matter of time before cannabis gets legalized worldwide. Something is already changing, and therapeutical use will lead to legalization. Cannabis has major therapeutic potential, which, for legal reasons, has not been completely researched and exploited. Since 1980, thanks to Raphael Mechoulam, we have known that cannabis has potent antiepileptic effects with minimum side effects if we compare it with other medications regularly used to treat this disease. Yet, its therapeutic potential has not been fully tapped.
In recent years there has been a snowball effect, with information and the use of therapeutic cannabis picking up steam. There have been very concrete initiatives in some places, such as the medical cannabis law approved in California in 1996 and the case of Bedrocan in Holland. This phenomenon later spread to other countries. Israel is a good example, where there has been a very rapid and professional development of medical cannabis aimed at meeting the country's internal needs. This information, at a certain point in time, reached the mass media, and ever since, it has no longer been considered censurable or legally complicated.
Italy, for example, dedespite having strict legislation governing recreational cannabis, has witnessed a very speedy and pragmatic implementation of medical cannabis, partly thanks to the fact that it has its infrastructure, consisting of a military laboratory capable of carrying out cultivation. In this regard, Italy has joined many countries that have legalized the medical use of cannabis. Another good example is Canada, the first country in the G8 to legalize it at the federal level, unlike in the United States, where only some states have lifted the ban. Germany is also taking steps towards authorization, as are Uruguay, Holland, Israel, and Colombia. We can already speak of an international wave of legal frameworks sanctioning the use of therapeutic cannabis.
Of course, things won't be easy. Many actors are interested in cannabis not being legalized for economic or ideological reasons. The Pharma industry looks at cannabis with suspicion; still, at the same time, the number of companies investing in research related to the potential benefits of cannabis to treat some illnesses is increasing. And, as said before, the ideological resistance will weaken eventually, thanks to the therapeutic benefits.
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Persistent criticism of the International Narcotics Control Board
Marijuana has been widely used in various spiritual and religious traditions of the East and elsewhere for thousands of years. In these ceremonies, the participants engage in a sharing together of the ritual of inhaling the smoke of marijuana for its calming and healing influence through the whole mind-body structure.
Sitting in a circle together, these small collectives share this religious experience to bring about an empathetic cohesion through inner peace and thoughtful reflections.
Such ceremonies belong to various cultures, tribes, and indigenous communities who appreciate and enjoy the calming beneficial influence of the marijuana plant. The personal and social benefits of marijuana have long been recognized in these kinds of communities. The hippy and artistic communities in the 1960s began to adopt a similar traditional approach to marijuana.
Furthermore, respect for this plant has been widely recognized for its therapeutic value since first discovered thousands of years ago. As a medicine, the marijuana plant enables those suffering from chronic pain, stress, and anxiety to live more comfortably with the painful impacts of unresolved health issues.
Complimentary doctors, healers, shamans, spiritual teachers, yogis in certain traditions, and the wandering sadhus of India have regularly employed marijuana for themselves and their followers in various healing and consciousness-raising programs and ceremonies.
Numerous research into the beneficial influences of marijuana repeatedly confirms how effective the plant is for the healing process. The plant reduces fears, stress, and tensions between the mind and body.
Marijuana is far from a wonder drug, and no experienced plant user would claim the plant has such a status. But it does have a fine track record of making an important alleviation of physical/mental pain. We can no longer continue to keep ignoring the testimony of people who use marijuana.
The ancient traditions and more thoughtful progressive movements towards physical/ psychological health recognize its powerful benefits.
The cost of growing some plants at home is also negligible.
The Obstruction to the Legalisation of Marijuana
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) does everything in its power to obstruct the legalization of marijuana for recreational and medical applications.
The Board demands that government worldwide block the recreational use of marijuana and restrict medical use as much as possible. The INCB shows a virtual totalitarian approach to the use of marijuana.
The Board remains determined to stop the cultivation and use of drugs by individuals or groups sharing the experience of marijuana. The Board supports prosecuting those who grow the plant for their customers.
The International Narcotics Control Board and the pharmaceutical industry have made strenuous efforts to minimize the use of marijuana by patients.
The Board would rather keep its power than show compassion toward those in pain or those who enjoy marijuana.
The Board does not engage in a campaign to ban the most addictive and harmful drugs known to humankind, namely tobacco, and alcohol. Alcohol and drug abuse leads to violence, despair, and suicide.
Around 100,000 people yearly in the United States die from the frequent use of alcohol, with an average loss of life of about 30 years.
Around 500,000 people a year in the USA die from frequent cigarette use. On average, people who smoke cigarettes die ten years earlier.
There is tremendous suffering for those who abuse alcohol and cigarettes, not only for individuals. Their families and friends witness the gradual decline into a long, painful death of a loved one.
Yet alcohol and tobacco remain available on every high street and more cheaply available at airports. At the same time, law enforcement agencies treat the use and cultivation of marijuana plants as a crime—the cartels who run the tobacco and alcohol industry work within the law.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking. The tobacco industry and alcohol industry spends billions of dollars per annum encouraging addiction to these harmful drugs, which have no medical benefits.
The number of people who have died from using marijuana for recreational purposes is zero.
The number of people whose lives have been shortened by the recreational use of marijuana is zero.
Of course, people MUST remain mindful of the use of marijuana as it is a mind-altering influence. There is a vulnerability to an inner reaction through the use of marijuana.
People can easily grow these plants at home. They can find a certain peace of mind through this simple plant that painkillers and antidepressants, with all their side effects, cannot offer.
Fear of Use of Marijuana
Western governments, corporations, the pharmaceutical industry, and powerful institutions demand that citizens work hard, work long hours, and permit an escape through alcohol and tobacco. These institutions allow drugs to get to sleep, pill-block pain, and get back to work.
There is a fear that if marijuana becomes widely adopted, millions of young and older adults will take a more relaxed view of life. They might start questioning their lifestyle or about being a wage slave, stressed out, and living on a relentless treadmill.
Along with numerous other political concerns, marijuana could contribute to a spiritual revolution addressing work ethics, livelihood, natural medicine, a relaxed way of being, and greater social cohesion and harmony. That's the last thing that our political, economic masters want.
The pharmaceutical industry does not want the widespread use of marijuana as a medicine, as it might well mean that patients can wean themselves off the addictive need for mind-numbing tablets. Three International Narcotics Control Board members represent the medical, pharmacological, and pharmaceutical industries.
Persistent Criticism of the INCB.
There has been persistent criticism of the International Narcotics Control Board for its determination to inhibit sovereign nation-states from implementing and legalizing marijuana for medical and personal use.
INCB uses its powerful influence to limit the cultivation, production, manufacture, and use of marijuana and ensure punishment for those who cultivate, produce, and manufacture marijuana.
Some courts worldwide can still issue the death penalty for manufacturing the plant. There is a ruthless oppression of those who enjoy marijuana. U.S. federal laws still technically permit the execution of its citizens if a citizen is found guilty of growing 60,000 marijuana plants. 0.7% of state prisoners remain incarcerated for the use of marijuana. U.S. prisoners serve sentences from five years to life imprisonment for having marijuana or growing small amounts of marijuana.
Of all the Western countries, the United States has become notorious worldwide for issuing Draconian prison sentences for decades for those who grow marijuana without a license. We witness a very slow softening of the approach running over decades. The police have far bigger issues to address in the violent/theft/corrupt-ridden country from top to bottom of the USA.
Law enforcement agents in the USA and elsewhere spent far too much arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning people who grow marijuana or sell the plant on the streets. Often poor and unemployed, the dealers suffer the madness of dawn raids by armed police with battering rams who traumatize the families in a police search for the plant.
The International Narcotics Control Board needs to be disbanded. The INCB is out of tune with the needs of our time and unfit for purpose.
There is an urgent need to bring about the full legalization of marijuana for personal and medical use. Ancient spiritual traditions and contemporary users know it is primarily a harmless plant from the natural world for the relaxation of human beings.
A joint contributes to a relaxed, stress-free approach to daily life.
Christopher Titmuss, a senior Dharma teacher in the West, offers retreats, facilitates pilgrimages, and leads Dharma Gatherings worldwide. His teachings focus on insight meditation (vipassana), the expansive heart, inquiry into emptiness and liberation, and posting his works on his site, Insight Meditation. You can follow him on Facebook, /Christopher. Titmuss/.
Education, banking, and getting legislation passed in Congress
This is a tricky question because there are legal obstacles at the state and federal levels. Regarding legalization at the state level, I think the biggest hindrance is education. I've found that the more people are educated about marijuana, especially the benefits of medical marijuana, the more receptive they are to passing state laws allowing recreational or medicinal use. The campaign that passed Amendment 64 in Colorado did a great job explaining the benefits of recreational legalization and the possible issues that could arise should we pass it, so we all went in with our eyes open. Education is key.
Other issues plaguing the industry also need to be addressed, namely banking. The marijuana industry has thrived in Colorado, topping over a billion dollars in sales last year, and what's happening without most financial institutions doing business with anyone involved in selling cannabis? The federal regulations prohibiting banks from doing business with the industry have got to change. This is one of the country's fastest-growing industries, and it's ridiculous that these businessmen and women have to jump through so many hoops to ensure financial success when they operate their businesses within the confines of the law.
Finally, it's important that when states decide to legalize either medical or recreational use, it has a solid governing structure in place. Colorado created a separate division within the state government to help coordinate the multiple state and local agencies affected by legalization. I see many other states following that same model. Legalization was so effective here that government officials worked directly with the industry to coordinate the implementation.
Regarding legalization at the federal level, the biggest issue is getting legislation passed in Congress. For the last few months, I've watched everyone freak out about Trump, Jeff Sessions, his nominee for Attorney General, and the DEA. Still, there's very little they can do to shut down the industries that have prospered in states that have legalized marijuana. There's also very little they can do should more states decide to legalize. We need our representatives in each state with marijuana laws to come together and legalize it at the federal level. This industry is burdened with conflicting state and federal laws, and it's tough to maneuver when your business is legal locally but illegal federally. More than half the country lives in states with some marijuana laws. The people have spoken, and it's the job of our elected representatives to support the will of the people.
The last thing I think is important to mention is that people who support legalization need to contact their representatives. I know it's a pain, and it sounds like it does nothing, but if every congressperson got calls and emails from every constituent who supports legalization at the federal level, they'd be pressured to act.
Kate McKee Simmons is a Denver native who interned at the National Catholic Reporter, was a reporter for the New York Post, and spent some time in Israel learning about international reporting. She is now a part of the Westword team as their Marijuana Editor. Follow them here: Twitter, @k8mckee. Facebook, /KateMckeeSimmons/.