So Nate Silver says that the demographics will be most favorable to marijuana legalization in 2022 - 2024. Because of this, 2024 is more likely than 2022 because it's a presidential cycle, and presidential cycles are always more liberal than midterms.
By this time also:
- There will be a ton more academic research about marijuana
- There will be several FDA approved medicines made from marijuana extracts and specific cannabinoids on the market.
- The price of LEDs will have fallen by 50% as compared with today, meaning that it will be both cheaper to grow marijuana indoors and much harder to detect since thermal imaging cameras will no longer be able to detect rows.
- Solar photovoltaic will also be much less expensive, and this becomes viable for keeping small indoor grows entirely off the grid when combined with LEDs.
- Medical marijuana will be legal in New York state, and probably in 25+ states total.
- Being able to synthetically fabricating new drugs using biotech platforms and 3D printing will be either here already or just over the horizon.
- The baby boomers will be in their 70s and 80s, which is when they will be at their most powerful and active politically, both as voters and also in the house and senate.
Sativex isn't FDA approved yet, and neither Marinol or Cesamet are made from marijuana. (While this may seem pedantic, it makes a big difference if you're trying to argue for rescheduling in a federal lawsuit.)
> neither Marinol or Cesamet are made from marijuana.
Marinol's active ingredient is the main cannabinoid in marijuana. You could try arguing (as opponents have) that marijuana has no medical benefit while Marinol does, but it always struck me as bending over backwards to ignore the facts.
> (While this may seem pedantic, it makes a big difference if you're trying to argue for rescheduling in a federal lawsuit.)
Keep in mind that there's already enough to contradict a Schedule I treatment of marijuana (aside from the 25,000+ studies regarding marijuana's medical treatment, there's the government patent on medical uses of marijuana).
It's hard to construct a rational argument in favor of the current laws already, and yet they've still managed to persist.
"Marinol's active ingredient is the main cannabinoid in marijuana."
It's synthetic, not extracted. Again you can't argue that marijuana should be rescheduled because natural cannabis extracts are already FDA approved until Sativex actually gets approval in early 2014. Also, THC is the main psychoactive cannabinoid but not necessarily the main cannabinoid overall.
"You could try arguing (as opponents have) that marijuana has no medical benefit while Marinol does"
You're never going to prevent people from making that argument no matter how dumb it is. We just need to wait for Sativex to get FDA approval so that way they can no longer make it.
If thermal imaging is no longer effective then governments may try to restrict the supply of suitable LEDs instead. (I am thinking of the UK here - it is probably less likely in the US.)
By this time also:
- There will be a ton more academic research about marijuana
- There will be several FDA approved medicines made from marijuana extracts and specific cannabinoids on the market.
- The price of LEDs will have fallen by 50% as compared with today, meaning that it will be both cheaper to grow marijuana indoors and much harder to detect since thermal imaging cameras will no longer be able to detect rows.
- Solar photovoltaic will also be much less expensive, and this becomes viable for keeping small indoor grows entirely off the grid when combined with LEDs.
- Medical marijuana will be legal in New York state, and probably in 25+ states total.
- Being able to synthetically fabricating new drugs using biotech platforms and 3D printing will be either here already or just over the horizon.
- The baby boomers will be in their 70s and 80s, which is when they will be at their most powerful and active politically, both as voters and also in the house and senate.