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MarijuanaLaw Schools Firing Up Marijuana Law Classes

 
Coming soon to a law school near you: Marijuana Law and Policy 101. Obviously, marijuana has been at the front of criminal law for a while. But with the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state, the topic of how to regulate the drug and the policy surrounding its legalization are popping up on law school campuses across the nation. Not to mention, another 19 states allow the legal medicinal use of marijuana.
Vanderbilt University School of Law is the most recent program to add a course in this area. Next semester, professor Robert Mikos will offer a marijuana law and policy seminar. In 2013 the Ohio State University Moritz School of Law introduced the first marijuana specific course. South Texas College of Law with Rice University School of Law created their marijuana specific course shortly after. Other law schools that will be launching marijuana-themed courses this spring include Denver University’s Strum College of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law.
Topics in the courses revolve around everything from how to tax marijuana to driving while high to advertising regulations for marijuana. Another reason for the push is the recreational legalization affects more than just marijuana law. It involves real estate law, administrative law, and work-related law. There are also implications in environmental and agricultural law. For example, how do you regulate who grows marijuana and its water use?
In a National Law Journal article, Franklin Snyder, a professor at the Texas A&M School of Law says this is an opportunity for law schools to adopt a different type of legal education—one that is not in a ‘silo.’ “In the real world, clients don’t have ‘tax problems,’” says Snyder. “They have problems that are all interconnected. Marijuana law allows you to bring it all together and demonstrate how every decision you make impacts all these other things.”
A new way to teach and a new topic for legislation has to be a welcome occurrence for a professions treading water.
Source: The National Law Journal
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