The outlook for marijuana legalization is brighter than ever.
Numerous states have decriminalized or medicalized, and many others are considering these steps or even full legalization. The situation is similar across Europe, and several Latin American presidents want to discuss legalization.
The opportunity for legalization is therefore ripe, but the task is still daunting. About half of Americans still oppose legalization. Public opinion has swung toward legalization in the past, only to reverse in subsequent years. A legalization bill in California polled well initially but then failed at the ballot box in November 2010.
Thus, advocates of legalization must figure out which arguments are effective, and which are not. Unfortunately, many standard defenses are unpersuasive and risk doing more harm than good.
One problematic claim is that legalization will generate a huge budgetary windfall. This argument has some truth, since legalization means reduced expenditure and increased tax revenue. For marijuana only, however, the magnitudes are modest, so it is easy to exaggerate this benefit. And the public knows that legalizers would still be legalizers even without a budgetary benefit, so this approach diminishes credibility.
Another awkward argument is that legalization is mainly about helping the sick via medical marijuana. Everyone knows that medical marijuana facilitates recreational use, and that many “medicalizers” are content with this outcome. So the medical marijuana approach seems sneaky. Worse, it has generated a new opponent of full legalization, medical marijuana producers who do not want competition.
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