On Election Day 1996, voters in California and Arizona voted for initiatives that would condone and legalize the purchase of medical marijuana by those in need and they would have prescribed it by a doctor. Within 5 years, many states have passed measures to allow those in need to legally receive medical marijuana: Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Maine, District of Columbia, and most recently, Hawaii (Bock 1). You might ask: What are the current regulations that so disturb those who need the use to be legalized? Stephen B. Duke provides insights into this investigation, demonstrating that the government may be contradicting itself, causing more pain and effort for less good, in his work Cannabis Captiva: Ridding the World of Marijuana Prohibition. “First, drug regulation is only possible if prohibition is repealed. The authors of both drug treaties and U.S. statutes euphemistically refer to drug prohibition as drug "control." Prohibition, however, is inconsistent with control, since only what is legal can be regulated by law.... Under one regulatory model... the federal government would maintain some restrictions against interstate commerce in unlicensed, labeled drugs incorrectly, inadequately identified or lacking adequate information and warnings. The federal government would share with the states the power to tax the production and distribution of the product. As with alcohol, most regulation would be left up to individual states. (85)"If caught in possession of marijuana, federal law states that, despite state law, you may be punished with some of the following penalties: Low-level felonies, even with multiple prior convictions, may result in probation up to to twelve months and no jail time is required; they possess...... middle of paper...... and they find the results they want to see, but for reasons unknown to me, they simply won't legalize a product that could be taxed, regulated for safety, counted in our GDP, and even sold internationally. Works Cited Bock, Alan W. Waiting to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana Santa Ana, CA: SevenLocks, 2000 . Print. Bostwick, J Michael. “Blurred Borders: Medical Marijuana Therapy [Abstract].” Mayo Clinic Proceedings 87.2 (2012): 172-186. MEDLINE , Stephen B. "Cannabis Captiva: Ridding the World of Marijuana Prohibition." Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 11.2 (2010): 83-90. Political ScienceComplete. Network. April 13, 2012. “Federal Marijuana Law.” Americans for safe access. Network. April 13. 2012..