THREE POSSIBLE CORRECTIONS Marijuana U.S. train is picking up speed.
Legal pot has made headlines lately, both in the run-up to and in the wake of legalization in Colorado and Washington. While the first two documents are press articles, from liberal newspaper New York Times and conservative mouthpiece National Review respectively, document 3 is a Gallup report on pot-related opinion polls over the past half-century by said polling company. What stands out is [1] how
much progress legal pot has made in recent years, [2] especially in conservative ranks, and [3] how little opposed further statewide legalization seems to be.
[1] Pro-pot support has grown dramatically over the past decade, jumping from 3 to 6 in 10 Americans favoring it. Independent and under-40s are leading the way –their growing tolerance coming from several interrelated factors. Prohibition, first, proved rather damaging –both in economic and human costs. Health- related risks, then, turned out far more harmless than expected. Most importantly, tax- and tourism-related revenues (in the excess of $100mn yearly for the former) coupled to savings on law enforcement have prompted even the least enthusiastic states to reconsider.
[2] All this helps to account for pot’s partial shift away from traditional partisan divides. True, two- thirds of Republicans still oppose adopting any such measure. Yet there’s no esacaping the fact that libertarian Alaska, along with other socially red states like Arizona (possibly dark-red Montana), and even the National Review itself, increasingly condone weed – all revisiting the legal-pot case from a small government
perspective.
[3] This conservative departure explains why the oft-mentioned ‘momentum’ seems unlikely to revert.
Though California pushed its referendum back to 2016, over 25 –including Deep South– states now consider making medical and/or recreational pot legal. As for the other half, they have decided to sit back and relax, watching from a distance how the 2014 rollouts turn out before possibly taking the plunge themselves. Anti- weed advocates have little chance countering the movement, then, although much intent on putting an end to the success story.
On balance, the dossier shows how much recent years have proved instrumental and helped step up the pace for U.S. pot legalization, with what used to be a ‘wedge issue’ of the 1980s’ ‘cultural wars’ increasingly
outgrowing political affiliation. (370 words)
Marijuana legalization: an idea going mainstream.
Last year, Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize recreational pot, something which triggered a great many reactions across the country. The first two documents are articles from respectively liberal newspaper New York Times and conservative magazine National Review, which both deal with legal pot’s relevance and potential consequences. The third document – an article from polling agency Gallup–
looks at how people’s opinion about pot has evolved. [1] On what grounds was legal pot adopted in those two states, [2] and what consequences it entails for the rest of the U.S., will be dealt with over the course of this paper.
[1] Reasons for legal pot seem to abound. Gallup stresses this best, showing how pro-pot supporters have grown fourfold since 1969. The new millenium appeared as a tipping point, with growing support being
explained away with mentality change. While only about half of over-65s advocate legal weed still, nearly two- thirds of young adults do. Also, as argues the National Review, prohibition has grown widely unpopular, as it required too much enforcement, or sent too many to jail, while failing to lower crime rates in so doing. To top it off, pot’s side-effects are far less worse than –say– alcohol or tobacco, and fewer people seem to develop long-term addiction. Yet what matters perhaps most is how much tax- related revenue legal pot may rake in – up to $100mn a year if the New York Times is to be believed.
[2] As a consequence of weed legalization in Colorado and Washington, increasingly more Americans now support doing so in their home states, helping plan savvy campaigns in the run-up to statewide referendums in 2014 to 2016. Politicians are more cautious, watching how both states’ experiments unfold before taking any steps. Nothing is won yet, however, as legal weed opponents hope to capitalize on any mishaps that may occur in Colorado or Washington, the better to reverse the tide.
Overall, 2014 will certainly prove a watershed year for further pot legalization across the U.S., a mild drug reform movement that even conservative magazine National Review reckons is a significant victory for individual liberty. (360 words)
Unprecedented U.S. pro-weed support elicits hope for further legalization.
Prohibition having proved rather ineffective, it came as little suprise when both Colorado and Washington states opted for weed legalization in late 2012. The dossier at hand is composed of an informative piece by liberal daily New York Times, a more engaged article taken from conservative weekly National Review –both written in early 2014 and accounting for Americans’ shifting attitude toward pot–, while a late 2013 article from polling company Gallup seems to back up their arguments with a few facts and figures. All three beg the following question: how may pot’s growing support be accounted for? [1] I’ll first outline the current state of U.S. pot support [2] before turning to the different factors accounting for it.
[1] Americans have never been that many to support legal weed. This growing trends has been fuelled by young adults and independent voters, about two-thirds of both now favoring pot. The NYT columnists goes even further, stating that pro-pot attitudes no longer depend on political affiliation, with libertarian yet pro-pot Alaska as a case in point. It has to be noted, however, that most conservatives remain fairly opposed as a whole, with only but a third in favor as illustrates Gallup.
[2] Growing support comes from several factors. First, mindsets have increasingly evolved toward more liberal positions – something the National Review sees as a progress in individual liberty and a dent in a liberal conception of the state the conservative magazine resents. Second, marijuana health risks have slowly been toned down, and clearly stand far below alcohol-induced ones. A third, most important point all three articles bring forward is profitability, economy-wise. Pot economics is threefold: most mention tax-related revenues – over $100mn yearly according to the NYT– revenues the National Review argues are little compared to potential savings on law enforcement expenses and the growth of a possible Dutch-like tourism industry.
Americans’ liberal attitudes to legal pot eventually come down to two things: increasing tolerance following a failed, costly prohibition, for one thing, and downright pragmatism in times of financial needs, for another. If the Coloradan and Washingtonian experiments prove a success, it might even start a snowball effect across the whole country. (370 words)
