Proponents of marijuana legalization in Washington, D.C., organized by a group called DCMJ, carry a 51-foot inflatable joint near the White House. Lafayette Sq. – Washington, DC. Date: April 2, 2016. (Photo: ep_jhu, Flickr)
“While there are serious prospects for legalization at the statehouse in a handful of state this year—think Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, and Rhode Island—a number of other states are seeing marijuana legalization or medical marijuana initiative campaigns get underway, and several states in each category have already qualified for the ballot.”
Last year wasn’t a great one for advancing marijuana legalization at the state level. Despite high hopes for New Jersey and New York, state legislatures in Trenton and Albany couldn’t quite get their acts together, and promising efforts petered out. Illinois was the only state to approve marijuana legalization in 2019.
It’s tough to push a legalization bill through the state legislative process. A single recalcitrant committee head can kill a bill, and even committed proponents can fail to reach agreement, squabbling over issues such as taxation, which agencies will have regulatory power, and ensuring social justice in the industry. And so the bill ends up dying. Of the 11 states that have so far legalized marijuana, only Illinois and Vermont have done it via the legislature, and in Vermont, they only legalized possession and cultivation, not a taxed and regulated market.
It could be different this year because 2020 is an election year, and that means residents of a number of states will or could have a chance to vote directly on whether to legalize marijuana without having to wait for the politicos at the statehouse to ratify the will of the people.
When it comes to pot prohibition, it’s state legislatures that refuse to act who are out of step with the times. National opinion polls, such as Gallup and Pew, show support for legalization nationwide in the mid-60s, and even in states where legislatures haven’t yet approved full medical marijuana, let alone legalization, there is majority support for freeing the weed. In Georgia, for instance, 55 percent say legalize it, and in Texas, the figure is 53 percent.
While there are serious prospects for legalization at the statehouse in a handful of state this year—think Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, and Rhode Island—a number of other states are seeing marijuana legalization or medical marijuana initiative campaigns get underway, and several states in each category have already qualified for the ballot […]
The Most Revolutionary Act 