State vs. Federal Marijuana Legalization Essay Example

legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes as the state of Colorado, he or she wouldn’t be committing any crime. The reason for this being that the state of Colorado has allowed the use of marijuana for recreational purposes. The use of marijuana for medical reasons isn’t complicated since the law doesn’t prohibit smoking marijuana within the state. If the state had only passed a law for the use of medical marijuana only, then the concerned person would have no option but to obey the set rules and regulations. Family opinion on the use of marijuana by the concerned person would vary from one member to another. Their views would depend on whether the person uses marijuana for medical or recreational purposes (Larsen, 2014).

The person’s community would dispute this scenario because a marijuana dispensary would have to be set within the community and this would have a negative influence on children within the community. The society would, however, not oppose the use of marijuana since the law already supports its use. When it comes to the nation, some issues with the law will arise except amongst individuals who support the legalization of marijuana. Distributive justice for this scenario is seen as the state since it has accepted the law and they would be the distributors of the medical marijuana with the use of the dispensaries. Commutative justice remains both the nation and state since the laws made dictate the amount of marijuana an individual can use. Therefore, any marijuana user has to obey the set rules and regulations. Retributive justice becomes the community and the parents if they weren’t for the usage of marijuana

or whether they reprimanded their children from consuming marijuana.

In a scenario whereby a parent living the same state is concerned that her 12-year old would be exposed to new significant risks of addiction of pot remains tricky. The fact that most parents don’t want their children to use marijuana for any reason brings about such confusion. Smoking pot is addictive and would thus affect the children for many years to come. Experts in child health care may have to be involved in advising legislators on the impact of changes in the legal status of marijuana in adolescents (Reznicek, 2012).

Parents should thus ensure that their children stay away from drugs including marijuana for their benefit. For this case, distributive justice would be the dispensaries within the community that sell marijuana to those allowed to use it legally. Dispensaries would fall under commutative justice since they will have to follow the state’s law that only allows the selling of marijuana to those who have marijuana cards. Retributive justice would be the parents who don’t want their children around people who use marijuana for fear that their children will become exposed to new and significant risks of addiction to the pot that will be readily available within the community.

The situation whereby a new marijuana board has powers to permit and regulate dispensaries but cannot withhold their permits remains indeed confusing. With the new marijuana board having powers to give concessions to those who want to own a dispensary, they cannot dictate who can or cannot be given a permit. The board cannot deny any clinic a permit based on opposition from other community members. The retributive just in

this case would be the board not allowing permits to be given out because the community thinks it’s unjust. The commutative justice that’s a fair exchange only implies that the board gives permits to those who want to open dispensaries in the exchange with complying with the set rules and regulations. Distributive justice, in this case, describes the distribution of grants by the dispensaries that would be involved with distributing marijuana as goods and services for the users.

In conclusion, regardless of whether a person supports or opposes the legalization of marijuana, there remains a developing issue regarding marijuana use in the country. This problem can no longer be ignored by law enforcement agencies, Congress, and the IRS. The federal government thus has to come up with legislation on marijuana so as to solve this problem completely. As for what the future holds with regards to the legalization of marijuana, such decisions and developments remain unknown in the present.

References

1. Larsen, L. (2014). Drug abuse sourcebook: Basic consumer health information about the abuse of cocaine, club drugs, marijuana, inhalants, heroin, hallucinogens, and other illicit substances and the misuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications; along with facts and statistics about drug use and addiction, treatment and recovery, drug testing, drug abuse prevention and intervention, glossaries of related terms, and directories of resources for additional help and information.
2. Newton, D. E. (2013). Marijuana: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: Abs-Clio.
3. Reznicek, M. J. (2012). Blowing smoke: Rethinking the war on drugs without prohibition and rehab. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.