New Pew Poll Favors Legalizing Marijuana

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 5, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                         

       Proving that Bob Dylan’s 1964 tune “The Times They Are a Changin” has finally come true, U.S. attitudes about legalizing marijuana have come full circle with a new Pew poll showing that 52% of all Americans favor legalization.  When Dylan belted out the tune, former President Lyndon Johnson was cracking heads when it came to pot smoking.  Harvard’s famous research psychologist Timothy Leary spent part of his career behind bars for marijuana-related offenses.  As the Vietnam War ticked on protests only grew louder, driving Baby Boomers to pot smoking as a cultural rebellion against the older generation’s misguided ways.  With Washington State and Colorado legalizing marijuana in 2012, the message has reached President Barack Obama’s 63-year-old “drug czar” Gil Kerlikowsk is now faced with some big decisions about what to do with marijuana.

             Now director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Kerlikowski must fish or cut bait when it comes to marijuana.  While the first U.S. Narcotics Control Act in 1906 defined cannabis as a poison, it was the 1952 Boggs Act that imposed jail time for marijuana offenders, wreaking havoc in federal and state courts for prosecuting marijuana-related offenders.  Kerlikowski must now make some real changes to federal drug laws regarding marijuana classification.  As recently as Jan. 13, a D.C. federal court tossed out a case attempting to force the Drug Enforcement Agency to reclassify marijuana.  Today, it stands side-by-side with heroin in terms of criminal penalties.  It’s been estimated that some 60% of California’s state prison population are doing time for marijuana or other drug-related offenses, costing the state millions—if not billions—in preciopus tax dollars.

             Federal reclassification of cannabis is the fastest road to correcting the injustice that costs states billions in prosecution and incarceration costs.  States like Washington and Colorado have figured out it’s better to tax the product and help generate tax revenue from marijuana to help finance vital state services, like education and health care.  “You can’t arrest your way out of this problem,” Kerlikowski told Macleans Canadian Magazine.  “The administration has not done a particularly good job of, one, talking about marijuana as a public health issue, and number two, talking about what can be done and where we should be headed with our drug policy,” showing, if nothing else, that the obvious hasn’t been done:  If Obama’s drug czar wants to earn his keep, he should call an urgent meeting of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and reclassify marijuana like alcohol or tobacco.

             Now that public opinion has changed, former drug enforcement officials are coming out of the woodwork to jump onboard.  “In those days—and the goal today—is to reduce the flow of drugs into this country, to reduce its purity and to reduce drug addiction.  Well, we have not done any of that,” former Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief in charge of narcotics enforcement Stephen Downing, who helped set up the DEA infrastructure.  While Downey admits to DEA failures, he doesn’t take responsibility for wasting taxpayer money by prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana users.  As long as Kerlikowitski continues to classify marijuana as a dangerous narcotic, the state will continue to hemorrhage financially.  States like Colorado and Washington have read correctly popular opinion that marijuana should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco and taxed by the state.

             Pew’s new poll found broad support for legalization across all age groups, with adults 30-64 backing legalization by over 50%, with 65% from adults 19-29.  California’s 1996 Prop 215, the “compassionate use” medical marijuana law has supplied 17 years of safe use, showing no evidence of the depravity alleged by opponents.  While there’s ample evidence that Prop 215 has been abused by recreational users, there’s no evidence of adverse effects, including, the big one of marijuana leading to more dangerous drug use.  Downing now admits that the federal government wasted over $1.3 trillion on the War on Drugs since 1968, fighting a losing battle since many responsible people continue to smoke marijuana.  Given today’s austere federal and state budgets, more conservatives on Capitol Hill have backed reclassifying and legalizing marijuana sales, distribution and recreational use.

             Chief cannabis legalization lobbying group, National Organization for Reforming Marijuana Laws [NORML], sees more receptivity for legalization bills and ballot initiatives around the country.  While California/s the legalization initiative fell flat in 2010 because of heavy spending by the Mormon Church and Christian groups, legalization now has wind at its back.  Given today’s tight budgets, legalizing cannabis is the best way to save states prosecution and incarceration expenses, even generating sizable tax revenues for cash-strapped states.  With Washington spending trillions on drug interdiction, legalization would break the back of the Mexican drug cartel and illicit drug trade.  Instead of letting billions flow across the border, legalization would give states a valuable revenue stream to fund education, health care, parks & recreation and other vital state services.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.