Alex Moore
DeathAndTaxesMag.com
With unemployment still through the roof and the entire Middle East erupting into one big burning America-shaped effigy, social issues up for debate in November’s election are largely getting drowned out. Securing reproductive rights for women, marriage equality for gays, and legalizing marijuana have all but gone up in smoke lately. But a pair of new polls show some surprising progress on the last front, at least on the state level.
Six states have pot legalization proposals on the ballot this November and two of them, Colorado and Washington state, seem on the verge of a major first: Making marijuana a fully legal, regulated and taxed substance available to adults, just like alcohol and cigarettes.
New polls released this week indicate the Colorado measure, nicknamed the “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act,” is leading 51% to 40% in favor among likely voters, and the lead is even bigger in Washington, 57% to 34%.
If the bills pass it’ll mark a watershed moment for marijuana legalization advocates because it’ll mean pot for the first time will break out of the confines of “medicinal” restrictions, which requires a prescription and falls outside the parameters of most adults’ daily lives. If the bills pass, buying some pot could be no harder than picking up a six-pack at the corner store—and no more stigmatized.
Related articles
- Colorado and Washington leading toward full-scale marijuana legalization (deathandtaxesmag.com)
- Poll: Marijuana legalization leading in CO (americablog.com)
- New Poll: Coloradans favor marijuana legalization ballot measure (kdvr.com)
- Poll: Marijuana Legalization Up 11 In Colorado (thinkprogress.org)
- Campaigns to Legalize Marijuana for Recreational Use Raise $3 Million in Washington and Colorado (jdjournal.com)
- Latest Colorado poll showing majority support for marijuana legalization ballot initiative (sentencing.typepad.com)
- Marijuana legalization opponents hit back at poll (blogs.denverpost.com)
- Gov. Hickenlooper Opposes Pot Legalization (denver.cbslocal.com)
- Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper opposes marijuana-legalization measure (denverpost.com)
- Factory Marijuana Next Threat to Family Farms (blogs.lawyers.com)
