Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana offers this comment on Rep. Dana Rohrbacher's proposal for marijuana legalization:
"Mr Rohrbacher's latest attempt to legalize marijuana will likely suffer the same fate as his several previous failed attempts have over the past decade. The Pew poll was just that -- one poll. It reflects, more than anything, the lopsided discussion about legalization in this country. I'd like to know how how many of those who said they supported legalization also realized that we are going to have a Big Marijuana marketing their products to kids just like Big Tobacco did for 80 years.
How many of those polled realized that, like alcohol and tobacco, society won't come close to generating new tax revenue due to increased social costs from legalization? How many people realized that legalized marijuana would not put a dent in the incarceration rate? Two states out of 5 have legalized marijuana (Oregon failed in 2012; CA failed in 2010; Nevada failed in 2006).
When today's 20-somethings start to have kids and realize they don't want mental illness, learning dysfunction, car crashes, and lower IQs in their families, they might well change their minds about this issue just like Baby Boomer's did in the 1970s."
