{"id":19501,"date":"2014-07-28T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=19501"},"modified":"2014-07-27T18:32:28","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T22:32:28","slug":"wheres-the-opposition-to-legalized-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/07\/wheres-the-opposition-to-legalized-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Where’s the opposition to legalized marijuana?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Our nation\u2019s capital is gearing up to join Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana.\u00a0 Already about half of the states have legalized the drug for medicinal use.\u00a0\u00a0 Journalist Richard Leiby has noticed what would seem to be an odd fact:\u00a0 Despite our supposed political polarization and our alleged culture wars, pro-marijuana initiatives are attracting virtually no organized opposition!<\/p>\n

Why not?\u00a0 Well, conservatives these days tend to lean libertarian.\u00a0 Aging Baby Boomers of all persuasions, being Sixties veterans, don\u2019t consider marijuana all that big a deal (though today\u2019s genetically-engineered strains are far more potent than what they grew under ultra-violet lights in their basements).\u00a0 Churches today don\u2019t seem to care that much about minor personal vices since there are so many major ones.\u00a0 Can you think of any other reasons?\u00a0 What does this tell us about our culture today, and is it good or bad?\u00a0 Read Mr. Leiby\u2019s article, linked and excerpted after the jump.<\/p>\n

\n

From Richard Leiby, The lonely lot of the anti-pot crusader \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

As pro-marijuana forces deployed their sidewalk soldiers to gather signatures to put pot legalization on the District\u2019s November ballot, Aaron McCormick, a 47-year-old city native and father of three, watched with growing alarm.<\/p>\n

Somebody must stop this scourge, he decided. But how?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Such is the lonely lot of today\u2019s 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. . . .<\/p>\n

More than half of Americans support legalization, various polls show.<\/a> The Pew Research Center has found that 48 percent have tried pot.<\/a>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).<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly, whenever we have a debate on TV, we hear the producer asking, \u2018Who can we get to debate against marijuana?\u2019\u2008\u201d says Tony Newman, spokesman for the reformist Drug Policy Alliance.<\/p>\n

The cable-show bookers\u2019 \u201ccon\u201d choices are indeed scant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable what\u2019s happened,\u201d says Robert DuPont, a psychiatrist who was the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the 1970s. \u201cYou can\u2019t find anybody to speak on the other side. .\u2009.\u2009. The leaders in both parties have completely abandoned the issue.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

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.<\/a><\/p>\n

[Keep reading for the historical ups and downs of the issue. . . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our nation\u2019s capital is gearing up to join Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana.\u00a0 Already about half of the states have legalized the drug for medicinal use.\u00a0\u00a0 Journalist Richard Leiby has noticed what would seem to be an odd fact:\u00a0 Despite our supposed political polarization and our alleged culture wars, pro-marijuana initiatives are attracting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,26],"tags":[3251,1370],"class_list":["post-19501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-law","tag-legalized-marijuana","tag-marijuana"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere's the opposition to legalized marijuana?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our nation's capital is gearing up to join Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana.\u00a0 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