One of the biggest obstacles to massive decriminalization and perhaps even legalization of marijuana has been the loudest advocates of this policy. There was a surge in pro-legalization organizing and sentiment a few years ago in Austin, and the only result I’ve seen is that the cops came down like a sack of hammers on pot smoking, which used to be tolerated to a much larger extent than it is now. Seriously, when I first lived in Austin, someone who wanted to sit on her front porch smoking a joint rarely had to worry about any harassment, so long as she reasonably quiet about it. I don’t know the last time I saw someone publicly smoking a joint outside of the context of a really crowded rock show, and even then it’s a much smaller amount of people—-I used to be surprised if I didn’t smell pot at a show, now I’m mildly surprised if I do. Of course, with the overall decline in popularity of smoking, pot may be losing out, too, but I’d honestly be surprised since the percentage of pot smokers who smoke tobacco is probably about the same as the general population.
Before I digress further, I’ll say that I remember that back in the more liberal days the pro-legalization people were everywhere, and they had the deadly mix of hippieness and more than a whiff of crankery that made even people who agreed with their general points run in the other direction when you saw them descending on you with their pamphlets about how hemp can cure cancer, their tie dyed Bob Marley shirts, and their dopey smiles. If that’s the face of your movement, no wonder they’re doomed to fail. I wanted pot to stay illegal just to annoy them. But don’t take my word for it—-Obama hid behind this living stereotype in order to dismiss the people going on and on about it. Will Wilkinson describes what happened.
“The answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy.” President Obama said it with a chuckle last week at a town hall-style forum. The idea was for Obama to answer some questions about the economy submitted to the White House website. The most popular ones all had something to do with the virtues of legalizing and taxing marijuana. “I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” Obama joshed, and the good Americans assembled at the forum shared a little laugh.