The biggest argument made by proponents of legalizing marijuana are claims about its health benefits. Where once the herb was demonized as a “gateway drug,” a term that indicated you were one puff away from heading down the road to perdition, it’s now regarded as no big deal in most social settings. The idea of marijuana as the drug of the crazed is an alleged condition that has been displayed to great comic effect in films and television over the years, becoming a joke among the hipsters who were the largest consumers of marijuana in the days when it wasn’t sold over the counter in public. No one believes any longer that zonked-out people pose a public threat after marijuana use.
Since its legalization in many states and decriminalization in most locations, marijuana has become almost mainstream. That’s quite a change in attitudes in a relatively short period of time. In 1969, the Gallup poll found that just 12 percent of Americans favored legalization. Researchers now peg support at 53 percent of Americans, most of its acceptance arriving in the past five years.
While not everyone is a total supporter (Pew Research polls indicate that just 39 percent of Republicans support legalization, while only 40 percent of Hispanic Americans believe in legalization), it’s clear that marijuana as part of the American cultural landscape is becoming more like alcohol. In other words, it’s available for consumption by responsible adults in social settings and medicinal purposes.