Will Boomers drive marijuana legalization?

April 18, 8:21 AMBaby Boomer ExaminerPaul Briand

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Baby Boomer Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Marijuana was the high of choice for the Baby Boomer generation.

Will the general acceptance of marijuana when Baby Boomers were younger help legalize its use now that they are older?

Three of our Baby Boomer presidents, Bill Clinton. George Bush and Barack Obama, admit to having tried marijuana in their youth. Remember the quote from Clinton? "When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it. I didn't inhale and never tried it again." Once the parser, always the parser.

A San Francisco Chronicle look at the issue cited a number of factors as to why the political winds might be shifting with regards to a full-blown legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana:

• The need for more public revenue that taxing legal marijuana might create (NORML estimates that at $14 billion a year);
• The need to have shrinking law enforcement -- including the prison system -- concentrate on other areas;
• The need to "declaw" violent drug cartels in Mexico that thrive on the illegal distribution of marijuana.

Lastly, the Chronicle noted: "Also in the mix is a public opinion shift driven by a generation of Baby Boomers, combined with some new high-profile calls for legislation - including some well-known conservative voices joining with liberals."

Thirteen states have decriminalized non-medical cannabis, according to a Wikipedia overview.

Thirteen states allow the medical use of marijuana. The state of New Hampshire might be the 14th. The measure has passed the House and is being reviewed by the Senate. Even if it passes the Senate it faces an uncertain fate from the state's governor whose centrist politics might find medical marijuana as too left of center.

The Chronicle cited a recent World Health Organization study that found 42.4 percent of Americans have tried marijuana, the highest percentage of any country surveyed. Compare that with the 20 percent rate in the Netherlands, where the drug is legal.

A poll taker in California told the Chronicle that a clear majority of voters in that state believe in the legalization of marijuana. He particularly noted aging Baby Boomers' "own personal experience with cannabis" and their feeling that "there's not much difference between that and alcohol ... it is leading them to support more of a tax-and-regulate attitude."