Stoner nation: According to the results of a survey published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, one in seven Americans over the age of 18 (14.6 percent of the adult population) used marijuana in 2017. Since there are about 250 million adults in the U.S., that works out to 36.5 million users… And 8.7 percent of the adult population used pot in the past month. That works out to 21.75 million users… Unsurprisingly there was a higher percentage of users in states where recreational marijuana was legal than in states where it wasn’t. Twenty percent reported inhaling (or ingesting) in states where they could do so legally, versus 12 percent in states where ganja was taboo… The study surveyed 16,280 adults.
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And the polling keeps rolling: A Quinnipiac University survey found that 59 percent of voters in Connecticut support legalizing marijuana. Only 36 percent oppose… There is majority support from Democrats, Republicans, independents, both sexes and all races. Only geezers (voters over 65) oppose… Connecticut doesn’t allow citizen ballot initiatives, but in this year’s gubernatorial election, Democrat Ned Lamont, who favors legalization, leads Republican Bob Stefanowski, who doesn’t, 53 to 37 percent… A Quinnipiac survey of New Jersey voters found they support marijuana legalization by a 62 to 33 percent margin, also with all major demographics except people over 65 weighing in in favor… and a staggering 90 percent of New Jersey millenials and Gen Zs (voters between ages 18 and 35) say yea pot… And the New Jersey legislature may be getting the message. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (a Democrat) says there are enough votes in the legislature to pass a legalization bill by the end of September… Sixty-one percent of Wisconsin voters favor pot legalization, according to a poll by Marquette University Law School; only 36 percent oppose… unlike Connecticut and New Jersey, Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on legalization, with 76 percent of Democrats in favor and 62 percent of Republicans against… Wisconsin does allow ballot initiatives, but there won’t be one on the ballot this November, though advisory legalization questions will be on the ballots in a number of Wisconsin counties.
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The Empire (State) is going to pot: Cynthia Nixon seems to have started something. The Sex in the City actress’s campaign for governor (the primary is Sept. 13) has caused a lot of the state’s nanny state opponents to marijuana legalization to rethink their opposition… starting with her opponent, incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo, who used to call marijuana a gateway drug but is suddenly making pro-legalization moves… Cuomo ordered the New York State Health Department to study the impact of marijuana legalization, and after the Department found that the “positive effects” of legalized pot “outweigh the potential negative impacts,” the Gov. formed a committee to “implement the report’s recommendations through legislation”… and earlier this week the chairmen of four New York Assembly committees issued a joint press release saying they will hold hearings on marijuana legalization-related issues later this year. The hearings will cover economic regulations, criminal justice policy, public health issues and diversity in the pot industry… Meanwhile in New York City, the Manhattan district attorney has ordered prosecutors in the borough to suspend all marijuana possession cases… If Nixon succeeds in knocking off Cuomo, it would be the political upset of the year, but even if she loses she may have catalyzed the end of marijuana prohibition in New York.
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Stupid politician tricks: Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren may be one of the strongest supporters of marijuana legalization in the Senate, but she seems to have been caught speaking with forked tongue about her support of her state’s successful legalization initiative in 2016… The senator told a reporter for Rolling Stone that she had endorsed the initiative before the election. Numerous sources, including the initiative’s sponsors, said she hadn’t… However, the senator didn’t oppose the initiative and said she was “open” to marijuana legalization; most of the state’s elected officials opposed the initiative, and the sponsors said they were grateful for Warren’s non-support support… And she says she did vote for the initiative… Warren is co-sponsor of a bill in the Senate, along with Colorado Senator Cory Gardner, to let states legalize marijuana without federal interference… It’s been a long, strange trip.
