Marijuana policy may not seem like the natural setting to model policies that pursue inclusive growth, but the innovative policy-making processes initiated in four US states are actually well worth considering.
To achieve inclusive growth – ensuring that economic prosperity benefits the largest possible number of people – governments must commit to two things: responsiveness to public opinion and flexibility around policy.
Governments should be responsive to broad public needs, not simply serve special interests or only those who traditionally have political access. Citizens must be able to engage in policy-making, and that engagement must be legitimate and not just for show.
A good example of this exists in Colorado. After the state legalized marijuana for recreational use in November 2012, governor John Hickenlooper organized a task force – including state and local government officials, citizens, activists and industry representatives – to provide diverse perspectives on the issue. Many of the recommendations the task force included in its report were adopted. State regulatory officials have also toured Colorado since legalization, hosting town-hall style information sessions, in which citizens are encouraged to discuss their concerns and questions with those in charge of the new marijuana system.
This ability to give a voice in the political process to those who normally go unrecognized is essential for policy goals such as inclusive growth – as is flexibility. Being able to make quick changes to policy when challenges or failures occur should not only be possible, but the norm. This is an area where the public sector needs to catch up with the corporate world; governments are too often inept at responding in ways that avert failure. Governments all over the world, including in the US, are subject to complaints over their rigid bureaucracy.
However, it is possible to design government processes that can be flexible and fast. Again, the legalization of marijuana in four US states is a remarkable example of government getting it right. This brave new world of public policy has ushered in a wave of efforts to make policy flexible in an uncertain landscape.
Colorado, for example, relies on state assessments of whether existing regulations are functioning properly. In the process, the state relies on working groups – state-sanctioned and organized committees tasked with resolving any problems with marijuana policy. In 2013, Colorado’s Labeling, Packaging, Product Safety and Marketing Working Group sought to resolve several policy challenges the state faced with marijuana edibles, and several of their recommendations regarding product testing and safety were eventually adopted.
Washington, as part of its legalization effort, has mandatory program assessments focused on policy learning and improvement. The state analyzes the cost benefits of the marijuana program regularly, to capture continuously the effects of the policy.
Meanwhile, Alaska and Oregon have provided state agencies with the authority to reassess tax rates to make sure they are achieving the desired goals.
Marijuana policy is not an obvious example of inclusive growth policy. But it has an impact on public health and safety, on economic opportunity, and on the distribution of tax burdens that have serious societal implications. And beyond the issue of marijuana itself, the processes that surround the policy serve as models for how to ensure flexibility to promote broader goals.
Policies intended to advance economic growth are difficult to perfect, and when inclusive growth is the goal, it is even harder to achieve. Governments cannot exist as passive bystanders, observing societal outcomes. Instead they must actively transform themselves into systems capable of hearing from every corner of society, and having the agility and will to be responsive to what they hear.
Read more:
Colorado prepares banking system for marijuana sellers
Washington marijuana retailers bring in $1m for state in first month
John Hudak is a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution
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