there usually appeared to be some other reason - some conduct or advocacy – aside from the involvement with marijuana. Ordinary people, it is commonly agreed, rarely draw such sentences. “In California”, one youth cynically explained, “it is illegal to smoke marijuana unless you have your hair cut at least once a month.” The children of governors, senators and others in the public eye, when arrested for marijuana offenses, rarely receive even short prison terms. Inequities of sentencing are no doubt among the factors bringing the marijuana laws, and drug enforcement generally, into disrepute.Brecher, Edward M. and the Editors of Consumer Reports Licit and Illicit Drugs 1st ed. Mount Vernon, New York: Consumers Union, 1972Applying the lessons of history to the marijuana laws, we can observe that any attempt to repeal marijuana prohibition must be approached carefully. For instance, granting the existence of problems with alcohol and tobacco legalization, it may be appropriate to first reform those systems of regulation and control in order to facilitate the effort to discourage use of those two drugs. Then, after making these changes, a similar system should be put in place that would regulate and control the use, production, and distribution of marijuana, while at the same time discouraging abuse and first use of marijuana. Such discouraging mechanisms include, yet are not limited to, the following: age limits; restrictions against some forms of marketing and merchandising that may be seen as glamorizing the drug; a complete ban on advertising; prominent display of medically legitimate health warnings; and pricing structures that discourage consumption while denying criminal drug dealers market supremacy. The system for legal marijuana would need to be flexible, since the effects of marijuana legalization, pro and con, can only be guessed at - yet, it is vital to get past initial objections and begin co...
