New and events of the Philadelphia Bar Asso.
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REEFER MADNESS REDUX B y M . Ke l l y Ti l l e r y Twenty states and the District of Columbia have actually decriminalized marijuana possession and many localities have effectively done so via ordinance or police and prosecutor discretion. Although in 2013, more than 750,000 people were arrested for possession of small amounts of marijuana at an enforcement cost of $8.7 billion, the latest Pew Research Center poll say 54 percent of Americans favor legalization. Yet, California in 2010 and Oregon in 2013 defeated such proposals. One report opines that taxing legal sales could produce almost $9 billion in revenue per year. If true, legalization would be a net gain of $18 billion, enough to build more than 1,000 new schools. Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana. Although Colorado has a hefty tax, this new natural wonder has already made that state a new tourist destination – the Amsterdam of the Wild West. In the first five months of this year, Colorado's experiment with "regulating marijuana like alcohol" 34 the philadelphia lawyer Fall 2015 PHOTOS BY M. Kelly Tillery R eported sales of legalized medical marijuana in the U.S. last year reached $1.8 billion, just short of sales of America's number one pleasure drug, Viagra®. In 23 states and the District of Columbia, "dealers" have become "caregivers" and "heads" have become "patients." Cheech and Chong are "approved providers." More than a dozen other states are considering such programs, which are favored, according to a recent Gallup Poll, by 70 percent of Americans.