A survey conducted by a team of researchers based at Boston University shows that a slight majority of all city mayors across the U.S. supports the legalization of marijuana and the regulation of its sales.
110 current city mayors from 37 states in the nation were asked to share their views about marijuana and several other policy issues.
The researchers found that 53 percent of the mayors were in favor of marijuana legalization and regulated sales within their cities while 35 percent of the mayors said they didn’t support the legalization of marijuana in their jurisdictions.
Many of the mayors who took part in the survey revealed that their opinions hardly depended on their philosophical or moral views on marijuana. Instead, they were influenced by several practical matters when forming an opinion on the subject.
For example, some of those who opposed legalization wondered how law enforcement agencies would distinguish between legal marijuana and black market marijuana.
In terms of political party affiliation, 62 percent of Democratic Party-affiliated members said they were in favor of cannabis legalization while 67 percent of Republicans were opposed to cannabis legalization.
So far, ten states have legalized recreational marijuana and many more are queuing up to do so. However, cannabis is still illegal under federal law and this creates a contradiction between what is happening at state level and what federal law permits.
This contradiction prompted the National League of Cities (a group bringing more than 19,000 municipalities together) to pass two resolutions in 2018 asking the federal government to reform the federal marijuana laws.
Furthermore, marijuana law reform proposals in Congress have bipartisan support and there is a good chance that some of them may sail through both Houses this year.
All these changes are on the horizon as support for cannabis legalization keeps growing across the country. Recent polls by Gallup and other reputable entities show that up to 64 percent of Americans now support marijuana legalization.
It may therefore be just a matter of time before all the states legalize marijuana in some form and the federal government may then have no choice but to make some legal concessions on matters of marijuana.
Otherwise, if the views of the mayors in the Boston University survey are anything to go by, change is likely to come sooner than the federal government may have envisaged. The whole cannabis industry, including Therma Bright, Inc. (TSX.V: THRM) (OTC: THRBF) and The Green Organic Dutchman (TSX: TGOD) (OTCQX: TGODF), is watching and waiting to see what happens on Capitol Hill.
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