The politics of pot
Are our politicians too paranoid to decriminalize marijuana?
Thursday, December 1, 2011
 Polls show overwhelming support for amending the laws. In fact, 50  percent of Americans—the largest portion ever recorded—now favor  legalizing marijuana, according to an October Gallup poll. But elected  officials have yet to catch up. Even those politicians who privately wisecrack about all the weed they  smoked in their younger days are usually too timid to take on  decades-old preconceptions about marijuana. In other words, the politicians who have the power to enact new rules  have been too wimpy to use it, and those who want to see changes don't  have the clout. The result is a political limbo where reefer madness  still rules.
Polls show overwhelming support for amending the laws. In fact, 50  percent of Americans—the largest portion ever recorded—now favor  legalizing marijuana, according to an October Gallup poll. But elected  officials have yet to catch up. Even those politicians who privately wisecrack about all the weed they  smoked in their younger days are usually too timid to take on  decades-old preconceptions about marijuana. In other words, the politicians who have the power to enact new rules  have been too wimpy to use it, and those who want to see changes don't  have the clout. The result is a political limbo where reefer madness  still rules.


 
						


