According to a recent Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans believe the use of marijuana should be legal. It’s the highest percentage ever reported, representing more than a doubling in public support over the past two decades.
It’s also a number that many of Nevada’s elected officials find troubling as they witness what’s resulted from the drug’s recreational use and anticipate the outcome of Nevada’s initiative on the November ballot.
To date, there’s been a significant increase in teen use of the drug in both Colorado and Washington and a substantial rise in calls to Oregon’s poison control centers. That’s in addition to a heightened level of illegal drug trafficking from states where it’s legal to those where it’s not, an increased rate of those driving under the influence from marijuana that has more than doubled. and much greater confusion concerning policies of its use in the workplace.
But for some officials in Colorado, the biggest worry isn’t about those aforementioned results but what’s yet to come from its widespread societal use. They’re concerned that because adults are able to legally consume the drug it not only increases its availability and eliminates the barrier to getting it, but also normalizes its use in the eyes of kids.
After all, when Oregon legalized the drug’s recreational use, celebrations were held in honor of its normalization into mainstream society. And if Proposition 64 passes in California allowing pot shops in the state to sell marijuana for recreational use, a provision included in the initiative could someday allow sellers to advertise their products online and in print, TV and radio ads. That would serve to further immerse the drug’s place in mainstream society.
Needless to say, the harmful results found in states like Colorado and Oregon could even be two-fold in Nevada, considering it’s a place where tourists go in droves to engage in activities they most likely would not partake in at home.