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58 B.C. L. Rev. 863 (2017)
Reefer Madness: How Non-Legalizing States Can Revamp Dram Shop Laws to Protect Themselves from Marijuana Spillover From Their Legalizing Neighbors

handle is hein.journals/bclr58 and id is 863 raw text is: REEFER MADNESS: HOW NON- LEGALIZING STATES CAN REVAMP DRAM SHOP LAWS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM MARIJUANA SPILLOVER FROM THEIR LEGALIZING NEIGHBORS JESSICA BERCH* Abstract: Reefer madness is sweeping the nation. Despite a federal ban on marijuana, states have begun to legalize medical and, increasingly, recreation- al use of the drug. As more states legalize marijuana, their non-legalizing neighbors have seen a distinct uptick in marijuana possession and use-and an attendant increase in crime and accidents. In December 2014, Nebraska and Oklahoma, non-legalizing states that border Colorado, a trail-blazer in the full-legalization movement, requested permission to file suit in the U.S. Su- preme Court over their neighbor's lax marijuana controls, which allow canna- bis to come into their states. The Supreme Court denied leave to file. In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling, the question remains: What can prohibit- ing states do to protect themselves from cross-boundary spillover? This Arti- cle surveys various litigation-and statutory-options and ultimately deter- mines that prohibiting states should, at a minimum, consider enacting laws modeled on Dram Shop Acts, which create liability against those who sell al- cohol to already intoxicated people or minors who then injure third-party vic- tims. These revamped Gram Shop Acts would create liability against out-of- state marijuana dispensaries that sell to Home State buyers who, while high, injure third parties in the Home State or those who are residents of the Home State. Gram Shop Acts may help prohibiting states shift some of the costs of marijuana legalization back to those states that foster its use by deterring sales to citizens residing in non-legalizing states and by providing compensation to third-party victims. © 2017, Jessica Berch. All rights reserved. * Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University; Associate Professor of Law, Concordia University School of Law; J.D., Colum- bia Law School. Special thanks to the other members of this symposium: Lea Brilmayer, Erwin Chemerinsky, Gabriel (Jack) Chin, Chad DeVeaux, Katherine Florey, Alex Kreit, and Mark Rosen. I would also like to thank my research assistants, J.B. Evans and Samantha Schmitt, and the students on the Boston College Law Review, particularly Danielle Haikal, for their assistance (and patience). Although all these brilliant minds tried to steer me straight, I may have hit upon rocky shoals. Any such errors are my own.

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