Assignment

Please answer each of the following two questions with a 1-2 page essay. Your response should be well-organized, factual, and persuasive. You will likely need to support your positions with data and solid economic reasoning.

I ask that you adopt a third-person objective point-of-view, avoiding such phrases as "I believe" or "it seems to me". (First person voice is seldom appropriate for social science writing unless you are recounting an event in which you participated.) Writing mechanics will be an important part of the evaluation, as they have been throughout the semester.

1. We spent several class periods discussing the legal status of marijuana in the United States, and the resulting high levels of enforcement spending, incarceration, and social distress. Today in the U.S., we have several states which have passed laws that are in conflict with the (currently unenforced) federal statutes. This situation is intolerable for a number of reasons.

There are at least three ways out of the current bind our nation is in:

• enforcement of federal statutes with the resulting shut-down of the 'legal' businesses in the states of Colorado and Washington, along with a subsequent determination by the FDA as to the medical benefits of marijuana (returning to the status quo at the beginning of the Obama administration);

• amending federal laws to make marijuana a schedule II drug (giving it the same status as heroin or morphine); use for medical purposes would then be regulated by the FDA and additional indications approved after review of clinical data;

• removing marijuana from the drug schedules and ordering the FDA to regulate its use in the same way that the agency treats tobacco today; this would allow sale for 'recreational' use to be controlled through state and local statutes.

Make a case for one of these three solutions, or a different option if you would like. Be sure to discuss impact on the economy, legal system, and vulnerable populations (including children).

2. Human trafficking, whether for sex or forced labor, is a growing concern in the United States. Our government's response to-date is similar to that with the cocaine trade - focusing on prevention of supply in other countries, while doing almost nothing to impact demand at home.

In a couple of paragraphs, briefly outline the process by which an Eastern European woman (or man) may be forced into the sex trade in the US. You may wish to comment about the impact on trafficking of our rather half-hearted enforcement of prostitution laws in the country or about the interactions between drug addiction and human trafficking.

I would then like you to propose some U.S. governmental actions that may be able to reduce the prevalence and human cost of trafficking. You will need to discuss actions that will help with prevention, as well as those aimed at mitigation of the impacts and punishment of offenders. Be sure to give some attention to the demand side of the market - the 'consumers' of prostitution and forced labor services.