Due to the vast lack of information about scuba diving while being under the influence of cannabis, I changed my topic to discuss the legalization of recreational marijuana use in the District of Columbia (DC). DC has a very unique legalized marijuana statute.  Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998 contains a rigorous statutory constructional defining medical marijuana dispensaries, chemical testing requirements for the cannabis, rules of sale and  designation of regulatory departments—the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration(ABRA) in conjunction with DC Department Of Health and Human Services(HHS).

However, recreational marijuana use although legal is largely unregulated in the district, pursuant to Initiative 71 ratified in 2014, people in the confines of the district that are over the age of 21 can legally possess ≤2 ounces of marijuana for personal use; grow ≤ 6 plants; use drug paraphernalia; but cannot sell marijuana.  This has produced a gray market, whereby marijuana dealers sell items such as keychains, stickers, t-shirts and/or mugs for inflated prices and then the give marijuana in specified quantities away as a free gift. This means that any person over the age of 21 can be a marijuana dealer and marijuana-quality is unregulated.

This topic has been easy to search because I am an attorney licensed in DC by trade; however the greater public health concerns are still unclear but drug use is a global phenomenon.  The unregulated distribution of psychoactive substances in any public space should be concerning.  The reason the sale of marijuana is banned is because it was attached as a rider in the spending bill authorized by the US Congress which control’s DC’s budget, whereby it has consistently and annually been outlawed the sale of marijuana. There needs to be a policy shift on the federal level to legalize the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana in DC, instead of sales existing in an unregulated grey zone, whereby the substance is not subject to quality control.

LIST OF TEXTS

1. William J. Zakrzewski Jr., Andrew P. Wheeler & Andrew J. Thompson (2020)
   Cannabis in the capital: exploring the spatial association between medical marijuana dispensaries and crime, Journal of Crime and Justice, 43:1, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/0735648X.2019.1582351
2. Andrew P. Wheeler(2018). The Effect of 311 Calls for Service on Crime in D.C. at Microplaces. Crime & Delinquency2018, Vol. 64(14) 1882–1903. 2018, Vol. 64(14) 1882–1903
   DOI: 10.1177/0011128717714974
3. Paul J. Gruenewald (2017). From Medical to Recreational Marijuana Sales: Marijuana Outlets and Crime in an Era of Changing Marijuana Legislation. J Primary Prevent (2017) 38:249–263. DOI 10.1007/s10935-017-0472-9
4. Sarah Klieger (2017)Mapping medical marijuana: state laws regulating patients, product safety, supply chains and dispensaries, 2017. https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1111/add.13910
5. Rosanna Smart (2017)Medical Marijuana and Marijuana Legalization. Annu Rev Clin Psychol.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-clinpsy-032816-045128
6. Jane Carlisle Maxwell, PhD (2016). What do we know about the impact of the laws related to marijuana? J Addict Med. 2016 February ; 10(1): 3–12. doi:10.1097/ADM.0000000000000188
7. Hekia Bodwitch,(2019)Growers say cannabis legalization excludes small growers, supports illicit markets, undermines local economies.
   California Agriculture(Vol. 73, Issue 03). Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of California
   DOI: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.3733/ca.2019a0018
8. To cite this article: Priscilla Novak , Maria X. Sanmartin & Mir M. Ali (2021): Geolocation of Maryland Medical Marijuana Dispensaries by Community Income and Racial Characteristics: An Ecological Design, Substance Use & Misuse, DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2020.1868516
9. Eric Sevigny (2015). Assessing the Effects of Medical Marijuana Laws on Marijuana Use: The Devil is in the Details. J Policy Anal Manage. 2015 ; 34(1): 7–31.
10. Christina Mair (2015)The impacts of marijuana dispensary density and neighborhood ecology on marijuana abuse and dependence. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 September 1; 154: 111–116. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.06.019.
11. Crystal Thomas (2016). Examining the Locations of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2016 May ; 35(3): 334–337. doi:10.1111/dar.12325.
12. Celina Valencia (2017). Structural barriers in access to medical marijuana in the USA—a systematic review protocol. Valencia et al. Systematic Reviews (2017) 6:154 DOI 10.1186/s13643-017-0541-4
13. Zvonarev (2019)The Public Health Concerns of Marijuana Legalization: An Overview of Current Trends. doi: 10.7759/cureus.5806

MY NEW TOPIC: LEGAL POT SALES POLICY IN DC / Greg Dennis / Research Design for Public and Global Health (2020-2021)[FLEX] by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0