A reader focuses on the structural obstacles to legalizing pot in the South:
Your thread on the side of Southern culture that really doesn’t like being told what to do is insightful. However, you are neglecting the institutional aspect of Southern politics. With the exception of Arkansas, no state in the Confederate South has the direct citizen’s initiative for statutes (see here). Only Mississippi and Florida have it for constitutional amendments. Getting marijuana legalization through a Southern state legislature will not happen any time soon. Even if it is popular, it falls under the tough vote category. It only takes some stoned kid to screw up and you face the prospect of a campaign commercial touting your vote for stoners behind the wheel. But this could all change if the national Republicans realize that this is a way forward with younger voters.
In the segment seen above, Southerner Willie Nelson endorses a marijuana ballot initiative – in the Pacific Northwest:
Oregon Ballot Measure 80, also known as the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, OCTA and Initiative-9, was an initiated state statute ballot measure on the November 6, 2012 general election ballot in Oregon. It would have allowed personal marijuana and hemp cultivation or use without a license and created a commission to regulate the sale of commercial marijuana. The act would also have set aside two percent of profits from cannabis sales to promote industrial hemp, biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil. Measure 80 was defeated 53.44%-46.56%.
The Dish 