Pubdate: Tue, 02 Oct 2012
Source: Odessa American (TX)
Copyright: 2012 Odessa American
Contact:  http://www.oaoa.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/708
Author: Jacob Sullum

IT'S RISKY TO SUPPORT POT

By the time the 21st Amendment ended national alcohol prohibition in
December 1933, more than a dozen states had already opted out.

Maryland never passed its own version of the Volstead Act, while New
York repealed its alcohol prohibition law in 1923. Eleven other states
eliminated their statutes by referendum in November 1932.

We could see the beginning of a similar rebellion against marijuana
prohibition this year as voters in three states - Washington, Colorado
and Oregon - decide whether to legalize the drug's production and sale
for recreational use. If any of these ballot initiatives pass, it
might be the most consequential election result this fall, forcing
both major parties to confront an unjust, irrational policy that
Americans increasingly oppose.

With six weeks to go before Election Day, Oregon's Measure 80, which
would establish a commission charged with licensing growers and
selling marijuana through state-run stores, seems to be in trouble. In
a SurveyUSA poll this month, only 37 percent of respondents said they
planned to vote yes, while 41 percent were opposed and 22 percent were
undecided.

But the other two initiatives are polling strongly. According to a
SurveyUSA poll conducted two weeks ago, 57 percent of Washington
voters favor Initiative 502, which would authorize private pot stores
regulated by the state liquor commission; only 34 percent were
opposed. A SurveyUSA poll completed on Sept. 12 found that 51 percent
of Colorado voters support Amendment 64, which would allow home
cultivation of up to six plants and create a licensing system for
growers and retailers; 40 percent were opposed.

Neither of these measures is a sure thing by any means. California's
Proposition 19, a marijuana legalization measure that was ultimately
supported by 47 percent of voters in November 2010, polled above 50
percent in several surveys. But while the SurveyUSA approval number
for Proposition 19 peaked at 56 percent in April 2010, dropping to 47
percent by September, support for the Washington and Colorado
initiatives appears to be growing.

In the Colorado survey, supporters outnumbered opponents in every age
group except respondents 65 or older, and Amendment 64 was ahead by 30
percentage points among respondents younger than 35.

These generational differences are clear in national survey data, as
well. In a 2011 Gallup poll, 62 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds
supported marijuana legalization, compared to 31 percent of
respondents in the 65-and-up group.

Overall support for legalization in the Gallup survey was the highest
it has ever been: 50 percent, compared to 12 percent in 1969 and the
mid-to-high 20s during the Carter administration, which was later
viewed as an especially pot-tolerant period. A May Rasmussen survey
put current support even higher: 56 of respondents said marijuana
should be treated like alcohol, making pot legalization more popular
than Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.

Rising support for legalizing marijuana parallels increasing
experience with the drug. The federal government's survey data
indicate that most American adults born after World War II have tried
pot, an experience especially common among people now in their 20s,
30s and 40s.

That does not mean all these people are current marijuana consumers,
eager for the lower prices, convenience, quality and variety promised
by a legal market. But they, along with their friends and relatives,
have had enough direct and indirect experience with cannabis to decide
that prohibition costs more than it's worth.

As The Seattle Times observed in a recent editorial endorsing
Initiative 502: "The question for voters is not whether marijuana is
good. It is whether prohibition is good."

The voices rejecting prohibition in Washington and Colorado include
city council members, state legislators, former U.S. attorneys,
clergymen, retired cops and two national police organizations - a hard
group to dismiss as a bunch of silly potheads, which is President
Obama's usual approach to the issue.

If voters approve marijuana legalization in one or more states this
November, that contemptuous attitude will no longer be tenable, no
matter who wins the presidential election.
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MAP posted-by: Matt