Public approaches used to regulate alcohol and tobacco may aid U.S. policymakers in easing prohibitions on marijuana.

Researchers from the RAND Corporation found that regulations placed on alcohol and tobacco in the past century may provide guidance to policymakers concerned about the public health consequences of legalizing marijuana.

Researchers said recent ballot initiatives that legalized marijuana in Colorado and Washington for recreational uses are unprecedented. The move raises important questions about how to best allow the production, sales and the use of marijuana while also working to reduce any related social ills.

"The lessons from the many decades of regulating alcohol and tobacco should offer some guidance to policymakers who are contemplating alternatives to marijuana prohibition and are interested in taking a public health approach," Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research center and a co-author of the paper, said in a statement. "Our goal here is to help policymakers understand the decisions they face, rather than debate whether legalization is good or bad."

RAND Corporation's analysis details some of the questions policymakers must confront when considering less-restrictive marijuana laws. Those questions include: Should vertical integration be allowed, or should there be separate licenses for growing, processing and selling marijuana? What rules are needed to make sure a marijuana product is safe? 

"Based on the national experience with alcohol and tobacco, it seems prudent from a public health perspective to open up the marijuana market slowly, with tight controls to test the waters and prevent commercialization too soon while still making it available to responsible adults," Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center and a co-author of the paper, said in a statement. "Of course, perspectives other than public health objectives might motivate policymakers to adopt different or fewer regulations. These are simply lessons learned from a public health perspective."

 Among the issues outlined in the study are how to reduce youth access to marijuana, how to minimize drugged driving, how to curb dependence and addiction, how to restrict contaminants in marijuana products, and how to discourage the dual use of marijuana and alcohol, particularly in public settings.

The report was recently published in the American Journal of Public Health.