From the perspective of as administrator of a hospital or health system and a civic leader in the community, the development of in addressing the legalization of cannabis as a public health issue would involve several advocacy initiatives championed at the local level. In this respect, the advocacy initiative would involve group advocacy, where people would be expected to come together to present shared goals and interests. Through this particular initiative, individuals and communities would be requested to give their views and suggestion concerning the legalization of cannabis with the consideration of its adverse effects and benefits. According to Wilmot (2017), advocacy groups have previously been successful in championing ballot initiatives that have taken place across the United with the objective of enlightening members of the public concerning the use and effects of cannabis.
This particular initiative would involve lobbying legislature, at the local, state, and federal levels to develop effective policy and regulatory measures in addressing the public health issue of legalization of cannabis. Several states, local, federal laws, policies are related to this initiative in the sense that they either regulate or adopted in overseeing the operation of health systems and other local public health organizations in the community. Until the enactment of the United States' farm bill of 2018, under federal law, it was considered illegal for anyone to engage in cultivation, use, possession, buying, or selling cannabis in all jurisdictions of the United States (Kempen & Fedorova, 2018). Initially, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 had categorized cannabis among Schedule I drugs, where it was claimed there was a higher potential for abusing it with little or no acceptable medical utilization. The federal government illegalized cannabis under the Interstate Commerce Clause, which was emphasized by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Gonzales v. Raich in 2005.
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Essentially, the primary drivers of this particular initiative would involve local community members as well as civic leaders and administrators of hospitals or health systems within the community. Other primary drivers of this initiative would include the local, state, and federal authorities as well as legislative arms of government. The appropriate timeframe for the complete implementation of this advocacy initiative would be between four months and six months, depending on the availability of the necessary resources and its reception by the people across the targeted local community. Considering the initiative to address the issues associated with the legalization of cannabis cuts across various sectors, executives of other health organizations or a local public health organization would respond to this initiative by presenting the views and support where necessary (Wilmot, 2017). Moreover, other local public health organizations might respond by providing the necessary resources such as finances that would support the successful implementation of the proposed advocacy initiative.
The C-Suite and board of this organization would be persuaded into resourcing and championing for the proposed advocacy efforts by identifying and enumerating to them the advantages and impact of developing robust policies and regulatory measures (Kempen & Fedorova, 2018). In this persuasion, it would be critical and beneficial for the C-Suite and board of this health system or hospital to understand the urgent need associated with providing the relevant resources that would essentially facilitate the achievement of this particular advocacy initiative within the projected timeframe. The measures of success of this organization include the successful implementation of the proposed advocacy initiative and its acceptance by the members of the local community as well as the relevant authorities. Besides, according to Kempen and Fedorova (2018), measures of success for the community would include persuading the legislatures as both state and federal levels to incorporate their views and interests in the process of formulating a policy framework and regulatory measures that would regulate the use of cannabis upon its legalization.
References
Kempen, P., & Fedorova, M. (2018). Regulated Legalization of Cannabis through Positive
Human Rights Obligations and Inter se Treaty Modification. International Community
Law Review , 20 (5), 493-526. doi: 10.1163/18719732-12341386
Wilmot, R. (2017). Cannabis Suppression Increases Experimentation & Legalization.
Forensic Science & Addiction Research , 1 (3), 232-236. doi:
10.31031/fsar.2017.01.000513
