Freakonomics author and blogger Stephen Dubner recently pointed out that when budgets get bad, vices can suddenly become virtuous in the eyes of politicians. If you’re a Democratic strategist – and you’re going to throw a Hail Mary – why not legalize pot in October?
Now, the last thing I want to do is help the people who nationalized General Motors. But it’s worth thinking about–at least in the abstract.
First, legalizing marijuana would do a lot of good things:
- Create a new white-market industry and get rid of a black market industry.
- Generate brand-new tax revenue.
- Lesson violence associated with drug turf (more serious for hard drugs, I admit.)
- Divert police resources to violent crime and away from raiding homes and shooting dogs over dime bags.
- Give people something to do besides drink all the time.
The social costs of pot legalization would not likely outweigh the benefits above.
We’ve not seen serious social consequences for people in Portugal — the first European country completely to legalize drugs (hard and otherwise). In fact, drug use among Portuguese teens has gone down after decriminalization. There is no reason why, perhaps after a short bump in usage, the same pattern would not result for the U.S.
What would this do for Democrats strategically?
- It would stun and confuse a lot of the libertarian-leaning folks who have otherwise been willing to throw their weight behind the churchier Republicans.
- It would reactivate the youth vote, as young people tend to care more about social issues than economic issues.
- It is not likely to torpedo the already bleak prospects for the Democrats, even if it fails to garner them new voters or cause libertarians to stay home.
So, could we be in for a 4:20 in October? Not likely. But with Democratic fortunes dwindling, they’re going to have to do more than buy votes from upside-down mortgage holders.
