Calif. voters may decide pot legalization in ’16
By Philip Ross, International Business Times
Marijuana legalization is once again lighting up California politics. The country’s largest state, along with Arizona and Nevada, has a ballot measure in the works to get legal weed before voters next November.
Advocates of legalization in California say if they can get marijuana to the polls in 2016, a presidential election year that will bring more out more young voters, it’ll pass with flying colors.
When retail marijuana went before California residents in 2010, 54 percent voted against it. Political analysts say that public opinion on pot has since shifted.
“I see a parallel — not a perfect parallel, but a parallel — with marriage equality,” Ben Tulchin, a pollster in San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday. “The first battle you may lose, like in California, but you start a conversation and get the dialogue going. … And you eventually see a very big shift.”