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ImpacTeen Research Papers Marijuana Decriminalization:
What does it Mean in the United States? It is well known that
eleven states reduced the criminal sanctions associated with possession
of small amounts of marijuana. In this paper we review the eleven original
decriminalization statutes, documenting key dimensions of these laws and
identifying their common denominator. We then examine state laws in effect
as of December 31, 1999, along the same key dimensions and show that it
is impossible to uniquely identify these 11 states. Non-decriminalized
states have also reduced penalties associated with possession of small
amounts of marijuana as early as 1989, calling into question the interpretation
of studies evaluating this policy during the past decade. We conclude
by showing that the inclusion of legal dimensions of the policy does not
diminish the association identified between decriminalization and recent
use. Research
Paper (PDF - 205KB)
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