Advocates for easing marijuana laws are planning to press ahead on all fronts — state law, ballot measures, and courts — in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground, the Washington Post reports. “This issue is breaking out in a remarkably rapid way now,” said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Public opinion is changing very, very rapidly.”
A Gallup poll last month found 44 percent of Americans favor full legalization of marijuana — a rise of 13 points since 2000. Anti-drug advocates cite surveys showing high school students nationwide already are more likely to smoke marijuana than tobacco. “We are in the prevention business,” said Arthur Dean of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. “Kids are getting the message tobacco’s harmful, and they’re not getting the message marijuana is.”