Arguably, the most important thing that marijuana legalization has accomplished has been to open the door to proper research on this topic. This double-edged sword was once the reason countries were reluctant to legalize it: there was little information about the plant. But without legalization, it is almost impossible to acquire cannabis for clinical research. However, in August 2009, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a section of the Drug Act punishing possession of marijuana for personal use in the private sphere. This is called the Arriola decision. However, this verdict has not changed much. Arrests of people for possession for personal use are common. For example, a report by the Provincial Ombudsman of Buenos Aires concluded that there were more than 18,000 cases of drug possession for personal use in 2018. These are some of the challenges we face in a system where state and federal laws are inconsistent. Another good example of this is Freetown Christiania in Denmark. Although it is not a state, it is a free territory in the middle of Copenhagen that practically has its own rules. One of those rules is the freedom to consume and sell marijuana.
This contrasts with the American model, which was essentially aimed at denouncing illegal producers. Instead, the Canadian model licenses growers, requires them to grow under strict conditions, and subjects them to strict protocols to meet standards. As I said, there are very few countries that have ever regulated the recreational marijuana market. But talking about legalizing marijuana without mentioning the Netherlands would not be fair. There are even bars that are suitable for cannabis consumption like a restaurant. Nor can we forget any other important reason for legalizing marijuana: its medical use is authorized in several regions of the United States, Portugal, Mexico, Australia, Colombia or Peru. The lack of amnesty is undoubtedly the most significant weakness of marijuana reforms underway around the world. At the same time, it represents the most difficult logistical task of reform: sifting through millions of criminal records and deciding which ones are amnestied is a gigantic task that most governments have deliberately forgotten.
A 2015 Nature report found that marijuana is up to 114 times less dangerous than alcohol. According to the World Health Organization, alcohol kills about 3 million people worldwide each year. So why is there a culture that condemns marijuana more than alcohol? Peronace states that this is due to advertising that has alcohol. “There is advertising on public roads, on television, in magazines and newspapers and, in recent years, advertising on the Internet. What they do is show joy, happiness, spending time with friends, having fun, the perfect party, and that advertising invades us and makes a substance like alcohol less harmful than marijuana, but anyway, alcohol is undoubtedly the most harmful substance for society, not the most dangerous in itself, But in danger to society yes, for the impact it has on road accidents, domestic violence, disability and loss of performance. The raids weren`t the only problem facing pharmacy owners: they also created the inevitable and complicated banking dilemma. State-regulated banks cannot work with companies that sell an illegal substance at the federal level. Most U.S. banks do not accept marijuana-related businesses, which is a major drag on the federal economy and state-owned enterprises, which still cannot accept credit or debit cards as payment.
Cannabis-related crime continues to exist because the black market still survives. However, there is a line of research suggesting that legalization has been of great benefit in reducing marijuana-related crimes as well as arrests. If supply does not meet demand, customers continue to turn to the illegal black market, which is a problem. The obvious goal of the reform is to force marijuana users into the legal market, but it seems that Uruguay has not succeeded because there are not enough in the legal market. In 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to do so. There, you can take and share up to 30 grams of legal marijuana in public. Pharmacies are outlets for these products, which are manufactured by only two state-licensed companies. You can buy up to 40 grams per month. If the person wants to grow on his own, he must register in a system and can grow up to 480 grams per year. You can`t sell, it can only be for your personal consumption. “The current situation of recreational use of marijuana by adults, private or misnamed is one of total prohibition. In reality, consumption is not prohibited by law, but possession for consumption, which, as it is understood, is absurd.
Today, producing, having, cultivating is prohibited. A person convicted of this crime can go to prison for up to 15 years. Now there is a Supreme Court decision, the Arriola decision of 2009, which pointed out that the section criminalizing this in the Drug Act is an unconstitutional section that violates what section 19 of the Constitution says. However, there are still many prisoners. In the federal capital, 29,000 cases of possession for consumption were generated last year,” says Fernando Soriano, author of the book Marijuana, History, published by Planeta, and journalist at Infobae and C5N. Since marijuana was first legalized in California in 1996, various states in the United States have legalized it, even though it is illegal at the federal level. The discrepancy between federal and state law was arguably one of the first challenges in dismantling a 100-year ban. In a 2019 U.S. study, researchers found that marijuana use, frequent use, and related disorders generally increased among adults living in states where it was legal, compared to those where it was prohibited. We can witness the consequences after legalization, where it can take several years to see the consequences of cannabis use. However, even a year after legalization, all this is still not fully fulfilled. The black market continues to exist for dubious reasons: for example, some people don`t want to give out their full name and credit card details on a marijuana dispensary`s website.