By Shradha Singh, Staff Writer
As the midterm elections come to a close, the future of legal marijuana seems to be just beginning. The 2014 elections, which some had already described as the “marijuana midterms,” ended with two states, Alaska and Oregon, allowing the legalization of recreational marijuana, along with the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. They join Colorado and Washington, who decided to grant adult use of cannabis in 2012.
This result conveys a marked shift in attitudes toward legalizing marijuana. In 2005, a Gallup poll found that only 36 percent of Americans favored legalizing pot, with 60 percent against. Now, almost ten years later, the same poll recently found that 58 percent of Americans believed marijuana should be legalized, with only 39 percent opposed. This is the first time ever that a majority of people have supported legalization, and this view has been reflected in the past elections.
Reasons for this change has been suggested to be in part due to the impact legislation would have on the crime rate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), marijuana arrests account for half of all drug-related crimes in the United States. Most of the arrests made for marijuana (roughly 88 percent) are simply for possession rather than the actual sale of cannabis. These numbers are also heavily skewed by race, with blacks being about four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, even though they use the drug in the same amounts. Add to that the fact that states spend an average of over three trillion dollars each year trying to enforce marijuana laws, and it becomes understandable why many Americans might desire change.
Economics is another factor in the shift in opinion. The demand for marijuana, even on the black market, is extraordinarily high (pun intended). According to the National Survey for Drug Use and Health, there are about 7.6 million regular, meaning those who use daily, and 23.9 million semi-regular pot smokers in the United States. Should this drug be legalized, economists estimate that the entire market could be anywhere from 10 billion to 46 billion dollars each year. Even if California alone were to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis, the state would rake in over one billion dollars per year.
In fact, the only reasons against marijuana legislation in states like Florida (the only state to veto pot use), even for medical purposes, seems to be the social stigma that surrounds the drug. In that election, nearly 58 percent of voters were in approval of allowing the use of the drug. However, this was not enough to meet the 60 percent majority needed to permit the constitutional amendment. Of those who voted against, 63 percent were ages 65 years or older. And, as proved by past polls and statistics, approval of marijuana seems to decrease as age increases. In the end, it was the lack of enough younger and more liberal-minded voters that made the difference.
Today, twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of medical marijuana. And like Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, many of these states are also considering the possibility of legalizing recreational use of marijuana. The states of Massachusetts, Arizona, and Nevada are already proposing marijuana initiatives in the 2016 elections. But the most important state for us to watch for is of course, California. Originally set to become the first marijuana state in 2010, it is now trying to resurrect a pot initiative, also to be voted on in 2016. If this initiative passes (and with 60 percent of Californians in support it seems likely), it is expected that a windfall of states will follow, possibly leading to legal cannabis use all across the country.