Texas public’s level of support for marijuana legalization is higher than national average
Nathan Jones, the Baker Institute’s Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy, said that a 2013 poll from Public Policy Polling showing 58 percent of Texans support marijuana legalization demonstrates the Texan attitude of disfavoring the government-expanding criminalization of marijuana and preferring free-enterprise solutions. Jones recently co-authored a Houston Chronicle op-ed on the topic of marijuana legalization in Texas with Rehman Bhalesha, a student at the South Texas College of Law.
“The Texas public’s level of support for marijuana legalization is actually higher than the national average,” Jones said. “Pew and Gallup polls have both demonstrated in the past year that a majority of Americans now support marijuana legalization. Marijuana legalization is now a mainstream policy option. Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana and the federal government has largely allowed them to do so provided they work to keep it out of the hands of minors and organized crime.”
Jones said regulation of the drug can help reduce its abuse by teenagers. “In spite of the harsh criminal penalties associated with marijuana possession, a study by the American Journal of Public Health has found no evidence to support the belief that the criminalization of marijuana actually reduces marijuana usage,” he said. “The problem of marijuana remaining the most popular illicit drug of abuse among teenagers despite decades of enforcing a criminalization policy cannot be solved by continuing the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”
Jones said that even though cigarette use is legal, the long-term trend of teenage cigarette use has been dropping dramatically, most likely because of strong regulation and increased education. The long-term trend for teenage marijuana use, on the other hand, has been increasing significantly.
“If the Texas Legislature wishes to limit adolescent use of marijuana and thereby prevent possible addictions or health detriments associated with marijuana, it would be wise to regulate the substance, which would take it away from outlaw dealers and put it into the hands of responsible vendors,” Jones said. “The Legislature could expand tobacco regulations to include marijuana, better ensuring that children and teenagers are successfully discouraged from using the product.”
Jones, whose research focuses on drug violence in Mexico, has also written a new Baker Institute blog on what impact Colorado’s legalization might have on organized crime in Mexico. The blog can be read here.
The Baker Institute has a radio and television studio available for media who want to schedule an interview with Jones. For more information, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.
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