ABSTRACT
The early twenty-first century is a watershed period, witnessing an astonishing transformation of the status of high-THC cannabis from an entirely black market industry to considerable “legitimacy.” The 11th edition (2012) of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “legitimate” as “(1): to give legal status or authorization to; (2): to show or affirm to be justified; (3): to lend authority or respectability to.” This chapter discusses marijuana from the point of view of (1), i.e., as a legalized commodity. Whether cannabis commercialization is “justified” (sense 2) or is “respectable” (sense 3) remains a matter of controversy. Although many are inflexibly opposed to any softening of current cannabis legislation, there is a growing viewpoint that marijuana prohibition has been a multitrillion dollar failed social experiment and needs to be replaced with a rational management approach. This chapter is mainly concerned with managing the factors that bear on maximizing benefits while minimizing risks associated with commercialized marijuana-but in the real world rather than an idealistic context. Life is frequently a choice between flawed alternatives, necessitating management of the winds of change by adapting to their direction.
