Instruction
Your textbook describes one of the benefits of federalism as "the ability for individual states to serve as public policy laboratories, providing insights on how well different policies actually work when taken from theory to practice."
Their example?
Weed.
Colorado legalized marijuana in 2014 - sort of. Colorado Amendment 64 passed in 2012, allowing adults to grow marijuana plants, and to possess up to an ounce of cultivated pot. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but the U.S. Justice Department outlined in this memo (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. that it doesn't intend to enforce the federal ban.
How has this worked out for Colorado? It depends on who you ask.
Denver now has more marijuana dispensaries than liquor stores and Starbucks combined. The state government of Colorado is collecting millions (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. in taxes and license fees. Still, employees can still be legally fired (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for testing positive for marijuana, and federal tax laws are written to punish sellers (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. At least one business is relocating to another state (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. because so many employees came to work stoned.
Is this an experiment worth trying in Texas?
In 2019, Texas legislators will consider S.J.R. 8 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., which would legalize and regulate marijuana in Texas. Write our standard 2 - 5 page essay (double-spaced, normal font and margins, etc.). What would be the advantages and disadvantages of approving a law like Colorado's? How would you vote if you were a state legislator? Why?
Submit in Word. Cite your sources.