Editorial

Marijuana could be wild card in 2016 election

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 book, "The Tipping Point" explored, among other things, how small things can make a big difference -- a few Manhattan hipsters began wearing Hush Puppies shoes to clubs, saving the brand from extinction in 1990.

Although other social scientists question some of Gladwell's conclusions, it's true that relatively small factors can have big consequences down the road. For instance, did Hillary Clinton's decision to use a private email server, and then erase it, cost her the presidency? Only time will tell.

Marijuana, of little concern to most of us, could provide the tipping point in the 2016 election, especially if it proves to be a close one.

While Southwest Nebraska law enforcement is dealing with headaches resulting from Colorado's legalization of recreational weed, the drug is polling better among voters in three key swing states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida -- than any potential 2016 presidential candidate, including Hillary Clinton.

Fifty-one percent of Pennsylvanians, 52 percent of Ohioans and 55 percent of Florida residents support legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

Popularity of an idea doesn't always translate into political action, however, such as in Florida, where 88 percent of voters said they supported medical marijuana last July, but a constitutional amendment to do just that failed to gather the 60 percent support it needed to become law.

But in a tight race, we wouldn't be surprised to see a struggling candidate play the pot card -- Rand Paul, for instance, who was expected to announce his candidacy today.

A champion of criminal justice reform, Paul has said "jailing people for 10 years for marijuana is ridiculous," and while he would leave legalization up to the states, has supported industrial hemp.

Other candidates?

Jeb Bush opposes medical marijuana as a guise toward legalization; Ben Carson supports marijuana for medical use but not recreational; Hillary Clinton is OK with medical marijuana and would leave recreational use up to the states; Ted Cruz has no stance on record, Marco Rubio has no stance but his brother-in-law was imprisoned for drugs; Paul Ryan has taken a strong anti-drug stance, and other contenders are a mixed bag.

Will the next president support legalization of marijuana? That may depend on who's running and what it will take to get him or her elected.

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  • Legalize it! Nebraska is OK with the sale of alcohol and tobacco, 2 highly addictive and life destroying LEGAL drugs. Why not cannibis? Alcohol and tobacco kills tens of thousands of people every year in America, how many tens of thousands of people have died from cannibis in the last year? Use your common sense people!!

    -- Posted by regular guy on Tue, Apr 14, 2015, at 4:32 PM
  • Tha new study by Colorado says that the law does not even pay for itself now

    -- Posted by dennis on Wed, Apr 15, 2015, at 8:29 AM
  • In 1984 in high school in SW Nebraska small town USA it took us under an hour to score some weed on average.

    Illegal or not its all around and has been for as long as i can remember. The pot dealers are the ones praying it never becomes legal and they don't check ID's or have a state registry in case you are wondering.

    Legalize, control and tax or leave it as is and the black market takes care of it.

    Give 15 million to schools as Colorado has so far or give it to Mexican cartels as they continue to smuggle it across to California then Phoenix then through Colorado to good ole Nebraska and further east.

    Either way its coming through Colorado to Nebraska - now it has a shorter trip, that is the only difference.

    The way people talk and act you'd think weed just showed up on the scene after Colorado legalized. The same people are still smoking the same stuff they have been for the last 200 years in America.

    The source has changed but other than that its business as usual. I truly have no idea why anyone cares.

    -- Posted by Diatheke on Wed, Apr 15, 2015, at 4:20 PM
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