Public support for marijuana legalization has surged in Washington state in the years following the enactment of legislation permitting the commercial production and retail sale of the plant, according to survey data published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Fifty-five percent of voters approved the voter-initiated measure in 2012.
Investigators with the Public Health Institute in California assessed survey data from a geographically representative sample of those ages 18 and older. Survey data was collected every six months between January 2014 and April 2016 in order to assess support trends over time.
Authors reported that respondents’ support for legalization increased from 64 percent to 78 percent over this time period. Public support grew among those in every age group.
National polls similarly show an increase in public support for marijuana legalization following the enactment of such laws in various states.
An abstract of the study, “Support for marijuana legalization in the US state of Washington has continued to increase through 2016,” appears online here.
Once people see how legalization works, they are generally for it. The corporate media can hide this fact for only so long.
My reply is the same as it has always been. Legalize nationwide. It should have never been made illegal.It is a plant,isn’t it?
Just goes to show: cant knock it till you try it. Now I wonder besides all the baby boomers with saprophagic health plans flocking to medicinal marijuana, how many people support legalized marijuana who dont consume at all? I know a few people like that. It doesnt take calculus to figure out that legal, fairly taxed marijuana is better for society.
Now wtf Washington? When are you going to open a marijuana coffee shop so we can get Fraser stoned?
Decriminalization works a lot better than tightly controlled monopolies IMHO. What Washington has is a form of crony capitalism, which is unfair to the general populous, who could never enter the market based on the financial costs of regulation. No home grow is also a terrible contribution to the law of I-502. It just makes the monopoly richer.
At the risk of sounding snotty like Fraser, Ryan, thats what ongoing marijuana reform is for! Lets not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Washington state, despite its elite policies, has full legalization, not decriminalization. Theres a big difference. Im not going to let my desire to fully legalize in Texas stop me from supporting the decrim bill that historically hits the House Thursday. That would be counterintuitive; we can improve the laws later! Lets keep our patient advocates out of jail first and families together!
Theres always room for reform. If I didnt have two kids and a house to build Id have formed my own chapter by now. (Too bad I cant build my house an feed my kids out of hemp… but thats another law to reform…)