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BACKGROUND

Over the last 40 years, the legal status of marijuana has been debated vigorously. Proponents of policies that would permit individual possession of small amounts of marijuana argue that it is a safe drug and that criminal sanctions against personal use and possession represent at worst excessively harsh and at best unnecessary penalties. Echoing these sentiments, editors of The Lancet have concluded that "cannabis per se is not a hazard to society but driving it further underground may well be."1 Advocates for legalization also point out that the morbidity, mortality, and economic costs to society associated with alcohol and tobacco use in the United States dwarf those associated with marijuana use.

Those opposing liberalization of current laws counter that marijuana is not a benign drug, especially in light of new psychopharmacologic information demonstrating that marijuana shares many features with other illicit drugs. They also contend that legalization or......

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Approximate Word Count: 3761
Approximate Pages: 16 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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