Cannabis Legalization in the United States: Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Public Health Implications

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the last decade, there have been increased efforts to legalize cannabis across the United States. The trend toward legalization and decriminalization began with laws that permitted the sale and use of medical marijuana. These reforms were followed by laws permitting the sale and use of recreational marijuana. To date, medical and/or recreational cannabis is legal in some form in 37 states. Changes in the legal status of cannabis have a number of implications for society. A range of research questions stem from the legalization of cannabis across disciplines in the social sciences, health sciences, and the professional fields of public health, law, urban planning, social welfare, and public policy. This Special Issue will focus on recent research on cannabis legalization and decriminalization in the United States. We are interested in submissions that represent the spectrum of issues arising from reforms to cannabis policies at the federal, state, and local levels. We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with an original research or review article.

Prof. Dr. Robert Mark Silverman
Dr. Kelly Patterson
Topic Editors

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Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Laws laws	1.2	2.0	2012	29.6 Days	CHF 1400	Submit
Societies societies	2.1	3.1	2011	32.6 Days	CHF 1400	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	3.9	6.8	2009	18.8 Days	CHF 2400	Submit

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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18 pages, 5949 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Building the Prison to Legal Drug Dealing Pipeline: A Comparative Analysis of Social Equity Policies in Recreational Cannabis Licensing

by Kelly L. Patterson, Robert Mark Silverman, Ambreen Rehman-Veal, Li Yin and Suiyuan Wang

Societies 2024, 14(6), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14060088 (registering DOI) - 13 Jun 2024

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Abstract

Since 2012, twenty-four states have legalized adult-use recreational cannabis. To varying degrees, state laws allow for the production, distribution, retail sale, and on-site consumption of cannabis in licensed businesses. Accompanying cannabis, some legalization has acknowledged that black and brown communities were disproportionately impacted [...] Read more.

Since 2012, twenty-four states have legalized adult-use recreational cannabis. To varying degrees, state laws allow for the production, distribution, retail sale, and on-site consumption of cannabis in licensed businesses. Accompanying cannabis, some legalization has acknowledged that black and brown communities were disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. To address this, social equity provisions have been a component of their public policies related to cannabis legalization. These provisions include measures to expunge cannabis-related criminal records and create social equity set-asides for cannabis business licenses. This paper’s research question asks if, under its current structure and implementation, recreational cannabis laws achieve social equity goals. The methods for the analysis apply content analysis to public policy documents and quantify recreational cannabis licensing outcomes. These methods were applied to a comparative analysis of social equity provisions in state and local cannabis laws applicable to large U.S. cities (2020 population > 600,000). This analysis focuses on the characteristics of set-asides for social equity licenses to sell recreational cannabis. The analysis examines the scope of social equity policies, their administration and implementation, and the characteristics of licensees. The findings from the analysis are used to identify a model policy framework and generate recommendations to strengthen social equity outcomes in recreational cannabis licensing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Cannabis Legalization in the United States: Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Public Health Implications)

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