Blog Post 1.2 "marijuana Law Issues"

1.  More than a quarter of the US population lives in a state that allows marijuana for nonmedical purposes.
2. Colorado and Washington were the first states to make marijuana fully legal.
3. In states where it is legal, there are variations in how much cannabis someone can legally possess, and visitors from other states typically face stricter limits.  In Vermont and DC, they don't allow sales even though the residents are allowed to grow it.
4. Marijuana legalization takes away all government-enforced penalties for possessing and using marijuana. Marijuana decriminalization eliminates jail or prison time for limited possession of marijuana, but some other penalties remain in place, treating a minor marijuana offense more like a minor traffic violation.
5. ACLU argues that marijuana prohibition is bad for the government because it has failed to notable reduce marijuana use, and it has created a very lucrative black market.
6. Some argue against legalization because they believe that there would be "Big Marijuana" companies, like those of alcohol and tobacco, that would profit of the widespread use and misuse of marijuana.
7. From 2000, public opinion on marijuana leaglization has shifted in favor of legalization with an over twice as much approval in 2018 than in 2000.
8.  The US government classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, which means that it has no medical value and a high potential for abuse.
9. The Obama and Trump adminsitrations both have had a pretty relaxed approach to marijuana laws, pretty much allowing states to choose what they would like to do.
10. Many marijuana businesses in "legal states" are operating in cash and not using banks because it is still illegal in the national level, so they don't want to risk losing their money.