Regulating Cannabis as a Temptation Good: Learning from Other VicesComment by David T. Courtwright, dcourtwr@unf.edu

The Cannabis Science and Policy Summit, NYU Maron Institute of Urban Management

2014 WSJ Poll:Which of Four Substances Most Harmful?

• 49 percent tobacco

• 24 percent alcohol

• 15 percent sugar

• 8 percent marijuana

Temptation Goods• “Marijuana might better be described as a performance-degrading

drug and, more dangerously, as a temptation commodity with habituating tendencies.” – Jonathan P. Caulkins, “The Real Dangers of Marijuana,” National Affairs

issue 26 (Winter 2016): 22.

• “’Temptation goods’ … are more prone than the general run of activities to generate unwanted habits and to cause some consumers to make choices they will predictably later regret.”– 2016 Cannabis Science and Policy Summit conference program

Gothenburg System• Fixed-profit public trust• Private distillation banned• Shareholder monopoly profits capped at 5 percent• Additional revenues went to community projects• Publicans received fixed salaries• Publicans enforced rules, e.g., no treating, no vice on

premises• Sales to minors or intoxicated persons prohibited

Established1908, stillin business

What Might Goth-Pot Look Like?• Monopoly on legal production• Limited advertising• Retail outlets limited in number and location• Cannabis products limited in potency• Sales of non-intoxicating food and beverages• Staff working on salary, not commission• Sales for off-premise use based on personal

consumption licenses with quantity limits

Dr. Willis P. Butler,1888-1991; his Shreveport

narcotic clinic operated from 1919 to 1923.

WSJ, April 18, 2014

Regulating Cannabis as a Temptation Good: Learning from Other VicesComment by David T. Courtwright, dcourtwr@unf.edu

The Cannabis Science and Policy Summit, NYU Maron Institute of Urban Management