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1. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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2. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a
Post Legalized Weed World?
What role will police and the DEA play in a fully legalized marijuana world?
Posted by:
Reginald Reefer on Thursday Feb 25, 2021
The Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized World?
The police and cannabis users have been on the opposite side of the issue of prohibition. The rst person who was sent
to prison for marijuana was Samuel R. Caldwell. He was one of the rst people convicted and sentence to prison for
cannabis under the marijuana Tax Act of 1937 according to federal les.

3. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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Since then, millions more have been harassed and have had their Liberty stolen from them in the name of the law.
Considering that cannabis is the most consumed illicit drug on the planet, the police had an ample pool of people to
persecute.
Yet these days, in 2021, the world is ever moving closer to a legalized society. Cannabis is on the verge of making a
major shift within the public mind and will be considered one of the many substances deemed OK for consumption by
the government - on a federal level.
This will completely change the dynamics between police and consumers. With cannabis being legal there will be more
speci c o enses that will be punishable by law enforcement. Seeing that some believe that all states in the United
States we'll have some sort of legalized cannabis on the books by 2024, there are many people that are currently
considering how these interactions will manifest.
In the following article we will be considering some of the major shifts that one can expect while analyzing some ideas
that was presented by Melanie Reid in a paper entitled “Goodbye marijuana schedule one- welcome to a post
legalization world”.
How law enforcement evolved due to the war on drugs
The war on drugs have had a signi cant impact on society. One of the major areas that have been completely
transformed is law enforcement. Before the war on drugs, the police were considered allies and the force that upheld
law and order.
However, once the controlled substance act of 1971 was o ciated into law, police stopped being the ally of a citizen and
became their oppressor. Cannabis was so widely consumed during that era, that the decree that cannabis is public
enemy number one- gave police carte Blanche to abuse their powers and in turn crippled public trust in the institution.
Not to mention that the bulk arrests of the war on drugs were directly a liated with minority groups. This transformed
the police not only into an oppressor but an agent of systemic suppression.

4. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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During the Reagan era the police were granted even more powers and now has the right to seize property and goods
without even having a human being implicated in the crime. Additionally, their ability to surveil increased signi cantly
and the surplus of the Pentagon assisted in militarizing the police force.
Now in 2021, 50 years after the control substance act of 1971 was signed into law by a criminal president- the public
trust in the police has completely eroded. This can be evidenced by all of the riots that have been seen in 2020.
Now that cannabis is becoming an approved social commodity, the rules of the game have changed.
How you could get busted for weed in a post legal society
Once cannabis o cially becomes legal in the United States and the world, we can expect that law enforcement will treat
it di erently as well. We can expect that lawmakers will take a page from the book of alcohol enforcement meaning that
there will be speci c instances where the consumption of alcohol or in this case cannabis becomes illegal once more.
For example, smoking cannabis while driving remains illegal even if marijuana is legalized on the federal level. The
di erence in crime is that no longer the possession of the substance alone would constitute you breaking the law.
This is one of the reasons why lawmakers are so adamant about having the proper technology or procedures in place
prior to legalizing at mass. Things like functional breathalyzers or perhaps smarter technology such as the Druid app of
which I wrote about recently.
Potential o enses that could get you ned or land you in jail.
If you are fortunate enough to live in a place where home growing cannabis will be legal, then there is a likelihood that
law enforcement might pay you a visit if you grow more than the sanctioned number of plants.
Of course, if cannabis was truly legal there would be no limit on how many plants you could grow at your own home just
like there is no limit on how many tomato plants you can grow at your own house. Nonetheless, it will be incredibly
di cult to enforce the plant limit unless those that are growing are doing so with no regards to hiding their operations.

5. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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However, let's say that you are allowed to grow up to 8 plants in your home, pushing that threshold to 10 or 12 will in
most cases not cause any signi cant issue. in fact, o enses like this would probably only result in a ne or something
similar.
Additionally, public conduct laws will also be implemented. For example, public consumption might be barred from the
area where you are currently living, or like alcohol, being overly intoxicated in public could also land you in the “drunk
tank” or cannabis related alternative.
Law enforcement would still go after large illicit cannabis operations, seeing that cannabis is still a cash crop and that
illegal players are still participating in the market.
The future of weed policing.
While currently we are still speculating about the interactions of law enforcement and cannabis in a post legalized
society, we can already see some of these things occur in legal states. We will see if the Biden administration holds true
to their word and does a major shift federally in favor of cannabis, but I would not hold my breath. Nonetheless, there is
more support for this now than ever before in history and so one can hope.
Here's to smoking weed with cops one day.
COPS AND WEED, READ MORE...

6. 2/25/2021 What is the Role of Law Enforcement in a Post Legalized Weed World?
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(https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/how-to-keep-the-police-from-
searching-your-car-for-weed)
HOW TO STOP THE POLICE FROM SEARCH YOUR CAR FOR WEED? (https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/how-to-keep-
the-police-from-searching-your-car-for-weed)
OR...
(https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/can-police-really-smell-weed-in-your-
car)
CAN POLICE REALLY SMELL WEED IN YOUR CAR, WHAT TO DO! (https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/can-police-really-
smell-weed-in-your-car)

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