Our nation’s capital is gearing up to join Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana. Already about half of the states have legalized the drug for medicinal use. Journalist Richard Leiby has noticed what would seem to be an odd fact: Despite our supposed political polarization and our alleged culture wars, pro-marijuana initiatives are attracting virtually no organized opposition!
Why not? Well, conservatives these days tend to lean libertarian. Aging Baby Boomers of all persuasions, being Sixties veterans, don’t consider marijuana all that big a deal (though today’s genetically-engineered strains are far more potent than what they grew under ultra-violet lights in their basements). Churches today don’t seem to care that much about minor personal vices since there are so many major ones. Can you think of any other reasons? What does this tell us about our culture today, and is it good or bad? Read Mr. Leiby’s article, linked and excerpted after the jump.
From Richard Leiby, The lonely lot of the anti-pot crusader – The Washington Post:
As pro-marijuana forces deployed their sidewalk soldiers to gather signatures to put pot legalization on the District’s November ballot, Aaron McCormick, a 47-year-old city native and father of three, watched with growing alarm.
Somebody must stop this scourge, he decided. But how?
McCormick says he knew of no group fighting the initiative, heard no opposition to it in his church and got no traction for his anti-weed views on his vibrant Twitter account, @blackmanhelping, where he opines on local affairs. McCormick, a construction project manager, considered challenging the ballot initiative himself, but he ultimately realized the futility of fighting an army of marijuana advocates.
Such is the lonely lot of today’s pot opponent. Parents like McCormick, once heroes of the just-say-no 1980s, find themselves outgunned: The anti-marijuana movement has little funding or staff, little momentum and, it appears, little audience. . . .
More than half of Americans support legalization, various polls show. The Pew Research Center has found that 48 percent have tried pot.Seventeen states plus the District have eliminated jail time for possession, and medical marijuana is now okay in nearly half of the United States (23 states plus the District).
“Interestingly, whenever we have a debate on TV, we hear the producer asking, ‘Who can we get to debate against marijuana?’ ” says Tony Newman, spokesman for the reformist Drug Policy Alliance.
The cable-show bookers’ “con” choices are indeed scant.
“It’s unbelievable what’s happened,” says Robert DuPont, a psychiatrist who was the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the 1970s. “You can’t find anybody to speak on the other side. . . . The leaders in both parties have completely abandoned the issue.” . . .
Backed by deep-pocketed funders, the legalizers deploy lobbyists, spokesmen and researchers from well-staffed organizations like the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, Americans for Safe Access and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). They even have their own business alliance: the National Cannabis Industry Association.
[Keep reading for the historical ups and downs of the issue. . . .]
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