Kevin Caldwell for the marijuana policy project, a group dedicated to the legalization of pot, joined WWL's Newell Normand to discuss the ramifications of marijuana legalization.
He said he respects views about keeping the drug out of the hands of children.
But the current policies have done a terrible job of that, he added.
Normand agreed that prohibition 'on its own doesn't work.'
"But I'm not necessarily on board that legalization is the panacea and is really able, the market place is able to restrict the consumption side, the demand side, by age appropriateness," he added, saying in every state where marijuana is legal the illicit market has increased.
Half the states have legalized the possession of cannabis so at some point the federal government is going to have to move on it, Caldwell said. "The sates are the laboratory of democracy," he said.
And some conservatives have moved toward a state's rights view of saying states should be able to decide on their own if cannabis is legal, he added.
Marijuana is a drug, Normand countered, and in this country we establish rules about drugs. "What we have is a conflict between state's rights and the commercialization of this drug," he said.
Drugs are regulated by the FDA and why should we treat marijuana any differently? Normand asked. Listen for the full exchange.
