William Galston and E.J. Dionne, Jr. provide highlights from their new report (pdf) on marijuana politics. Among them:
Support for legalization, though growing markedly, is not as intense as opposition, and is likely to remain relatively shallow so long as marijuana itself is not seen as a positive good. Whether opinion swings toward more robust support for legalization will depend heavily on the perceived success of the state legalization experiments now under way—which will hinge in part on the federal response to those experiments.
In many ways, I think that is the crucial barrier we have to break. We have to make an argument that legalized, regulated marijuana will be a fantastic good for society as a whole. We have to make a positive argument for the broader social and personal and health benefits of more marijuana use. We await that essay – because it requires courage and real depth. The number Clive Crook focuses on:
More than 70 percent think that “government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth.” This wide margin of disapproval of the current system unites every demographic segment of U.S. society. Every ideological segment too: Large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals and moderates all think the current costs of enforcement outweigh the benefits.
Sullum’s perspective:
The analogy with alcohol, which was emphasized by the successful legalization campaigns in Colorado and Washington, does not require believing that marijuana is utterly harmless. It simply requires recognizing that marijuana, like alcohol, can be consumed responsibly and that prohibition is not a wise, fair, or cost-effective way to discourage excess. “Although a majority believe that alcohol is more harmful to individuals and to society than is marijuana,” Galston and Dionne write, “alcohol continues to enjoy much broader social acceptance.” I suspect that gap will shrink during the next decade or two as today’s anti-pot retirees die and the rest of us observe the results of the experiments in Colorado, Washington, and other states that follow their example.
The Dish 