September 15, 2023
Sometimes, assets and privileges are up for grabs.
The University of Virginia Law School has an office for me as I co-teach a class on Cannabis Legalization with a focus on who gets the money. Well, for now, I don’t have any use for the office. I teach only three more Fridays.
Until I think of something, this office makes for a thought experiment. It’s in line with Virginia’s marijuana situation that our class is considering: Who gets the privilege of using the room (the asset)? Who gets the privilege of selling marijuana (the money asset)?
That is, what if we treat the office, like a state-granted privilege to sell marijuana legally, as an asset to be used for whatever purpose the group wants? For marijuana sales, the group is the public. for the room, the group is the class. Both cases are like discovering gold on state land – it’s common wealth, so what do we do with it? Maybe the class could think about this office as a kind of miniature version of the marijuana money.
Let’s assume that I can allow students to use this office I’m entitled to, so long as they agree to use it responsibly. (That won’t happen, right? This is just a thought experiment.). Which students? Or student?
Let everyone use the key? How would that work? I will not supervise or designate who gets it. Maybe that option is so unlike any realistic option for marijuana sales that I should take it off the table for this thought experiment.
Give the key to whoever asks first? That’s what happens in open-license states that later impose moratoria on new licenses. Think Oregon and Oklahoma.
Have a lottery?
Auction the key off to the high bidder? Use the proceeds for whatever the class decides. As a default, distribute the proceeds to the non-bidders, pro rata.
Have an on-the-merits competition? Students would submit a plan to use the office for the purposes of the class. Or for whatever social purpose they choose. I would choose the winner. Or maybe students could vote for the best plan.
Or what?
Would I lead the class as it tries to decide what to do with this privilege, this asset? Or might we pick a student to lead by lot, as the ancient Greeks did? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/opinion/elections-democracy.html
The Center for New Revenue 