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Red States Lean Green This Election

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The last 20 years have seen a big change for marijuana.

The War On Drugs framed a mindset about marijuana for two generations, but in the last 10 years, the country seems to have moved passed it. Now even red states lean green this election. Nixon’s administration went to battle with drug abuse declared “public enemy number one”. But times have changed and so has public opinion and taste. And in this election, even conservative states are polling positive about opening their border for forms of legal cannabis.
The west coast led the way for legalization with California, Oregon and Washington, but other states were slower in acceptance. But as of 2022, over 50% of the population has access to legal weed and even the AARP has come up in support of it for medical marijuana. And states have enjoyed the robust revenue to the state coffers.  States with fully recreational earn more money from cananbis taxes than alcohol. And crime drops also.

In Kansas, the Midwest Newsroom partnered with Emerson College Polling to conduct surveys. More than 72% of the state’s voters said they support legalizing medical marijuana. About 56% support legalizing it for recreational use. Republican leaders in the Sunflower state have opposed legalizing marijuana of any kind. But with some movement at the federal level,  recently appointed a special committee on medical marijuana.

North Dakota voters appear split and largely undecided about the marijuana initiative according to poll commissioned by the North Dakota News Cooperative. The Dakotas are traditionally conservative states, but the North’s sister state to the south is showing a bit of difference. The Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota shows an increase in support, but not quite at the level needed to to pass.

Utah, which is not a fan of alcohol or caffeine seems to be leaning green. A recent poll found 50% of the Beehive State voters would support recreational cannabis. Another 38% of Utahns surveyed support medical cannabis only and 9% believe cannabis should be illegal entirely. Three percent were “not sure.”

Florida, one of the largest states, seems to have leaned into saying yes for recreational marijuana according to polls. This is interesting considering the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has waged an all out war against the ballot initiative.  Currently, there is a court battle about DeSantis using the state’s resources to put pressure on the media to promote public service announcements against legalization.

November 5 could be a big day for cannabis, and a look into the mindset of the country.

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Terry Hacienda

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