In the Weeds

About this Episode

It’s Reefer Madness week on Oral Argument. We talk with Douglas Berman about marijuana decriminalization and lots more. We discuss blogs and scholarship, LSD, why minds might be changing and how they change on drug use, parental paternalism and state paternalism, what we mean by “good drugs” and “bad drugs,” the productivity of intoxication, why law students take an interest in philosophy and sociology when it comes to drug laws. What levers should we use to minimize the dangers drugs pose, and what levers are available to us? We talk a bit about Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and North Korea. Yes, North Korea. Is part of the right answer to restrict the market to Mom and Pop Pot? How do we do that in a maelstrom of conflicting federal and state laws?

This show’s links:

• Douglas Berman’s faculty profile and writing
• Kimberly Krawiec, Taxing Eggs on Oral Argument on The Faculty Lounge blog
• The best way to listen to Oral Argument: Podcast apps, such as Castro, instacast, Downcast, and Pocket Casts
• Doug’s world-famous sentencing blog, Sentencing Law and Policy
• Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform, Doug Berman’s latest world-famous blog
• United States v. Marshall (Easterbrook vs. Posner on the interpretation of statutory LSD punishments)
• Matt Ferner, Lawmaker Predicts Marijuana Will Be Legal Within 5 Years
• Seanna Adcox (AP), South Carolina House Allows Cannabis-Derived Oil for Epilepsy
• Alex Kreit, Controlled Substances: Crime, Regulation, and Policy
• Alex Kreit, Controlled Substances blog posts on Doug’s Sentencing Law and Policy (this is the fourth, with earlier posts linked at the bottom of this one)
• Ben Tool, North Korea Smokes Weed Every Day, Explaining a Lot
• Josh Harkinson, Brett Bownell, and Julia Lurie, 24 Mind-Blowing Facts About Marijuana Production in America
• Josh Harkinson, The Landscape-Scarring, Energy-Sucking, Wildlife-Killing Reality of Pot Farming
• Wikipedia on Drug Policy of Sweden
• The Dutch government’s Toleration policy regarding soft drugs and coffee shops
• Frida Ghitis, Amsterdam for tourists: What's legal?
• Glenn Greenwald, Drug Decriminalization in Portugal
• Jonathan Hiskes, Tell me again why we mandate parking at bars?
• Erik Ortiz, 8 things to know about buying and smoking pot in Colorado
• Melissa Schettini Kearney, The Economic Winners and Losers of Legalized Gambling
• Ashley Southall, Answers Sought for When Marijuana Laws Collide
• Serge F. Kovalesi, U.S. Issues Marijuana Guidelines for Banks
• Trevor Curwin, Small Growers or Corporate Cash Crop?
• Jake Ellison, Washington State Just Shifted Marijuana Market from ‘Big Weed’ to ‘Ma and Pa Weed’
• Abby Haglage, Meet Mark Kleiman, the Man Who Will Be Washington State’s Pot Czar
• Gonzales v. Raich
• Frontline interview with Mark Kleiman