Public Support for Legalization at All-Time High
May 5th, 2009 by Russ
A notoriously obtuse American public may finally be catching up to the reality that marijuana prohibition causes more harm than good. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, more Americans now support pot legalization than ever before. 46 percent of Americans now support legalizing ’small amounts of marijuana for personal use.’
This represents a ten percent jump in the last four years, which is a relatively huge shift in popular support for such a short time. Even during the weed-friendly Carter administration, support for legalization never rose higher than 28% (in 1977).
While tFS is confident that its own efforts are largely responsible for the newest poll results, other political factors may also account for this green-moving trend. Some of these factors include the weed-friendly stances of many mainstream celebrities and athletes (including the Michael Phelps bong fiasco), the worsening drug-related violence in Mexico, and the recognition of weed as a potential US cash crop in the midst of a debilitating recession.
Bruce Mirkin of the Marijuana Policy Project noted:
There is clearly more interest and serious discussion of whether marijuana prohibition makes any sense than I’ve seen at any point in my adult lifetime… Marijuana prohibition has become like the Soviet Empire circa 1987 or 1988… It’s an empty shell of a policy that continues only because it is perceived as being huge and formidable, but when the perception changes, the whole thing is going to collapse.
Well, the perception is certainly changing. And, as it happens, altered perceptions are the weed culture’s specialty.
