The Marijuana Insurgency: Federalism and Social Reframing in Policy Reform

Abstract

After fifty years of federal prohibition, marijuana reform efforts have enjoyed unprecedented political and legal success. These victories hold lessons for anyone seeking to resist federal law without being able to directly change it (as well as anyone seeking to maintain existing laws).

Victory can be won by reframing an issue. For marijuana reform, social reframing—not formal legal analysis or material factors—provides the best explanation for how advocates achieved change. Their unconventional political tactics, akin to those used by insurgents in wartime, undercut federal prohibition by winning hearts and minds.

This is an analysis of the sociology of legal change. It is also the story of how ordinary Americans claimed personal liberty back from the centralized state. Despite what anti-liberal critics have argued, local self-governance and individual freedom can sometimes go hand-in-hand.

Keywords: marijuana, law, insurgent warfare, counterinsurgency, narcotics, history, federalism, political science, legalization, prohibition, referendum, race, NORML, Allen St. Pierre, Marijuana Policy Project, MPP, Morgan Fox, justice, criminal law, states, organizing, social movement, drugs, constitutional

JEL Classification: N4, K10, I18, K14