Would Not Feel So All Alone

Most states with medical marijuana were successful in passing those initiatives because their states allow for voter referenda in their constitutions.

Conventional wisdom holds that in states without access to ballot-box referenda -- that is, states where laws must only be passed through legislative action -- that the concept of passing medical marijuana is a far-fetched dream. Will never happen, they say -- but then, one looks at the polling.

The Harris Poll finds (via the Sacramento Bee):

When asked if Americans would support legalizing marijuana in their state, three quarters of Americans say they support legalization of marijuana for medical treatment (74%) with almost half saying they strongly support it (48%). Significantly fewer Americans say they oppose the legalization of medical marijuana in their state (18%), and even less are not sure (7%) or decline to answer (1%).

So, the nationwide average is 74%, but that can't hold up in a Southern state like Kentucky, right? It's true, the South has a lower percentage of folks in favor of legalized marijuana use -- merely more than two-thirds:

Southerners are least supportive of both medical marijuana legalization (69%) and marijuana legalized for recreational use (34%).

Grain of salt: this was a Harris Interactive Poll conducted online. A phone poll to landlines would likely skew the opposite direction.

But don't make the mistake that advocates for marijuana law reform are all idealistic, young, liberal Democrats. That might have been true once upon a time, but the Tea Party's hatred for the federal government has begun to spill over into the War on Marijuana.

For instance, supporters of Phil Moffett, Tea Party candidate for governor, had their business raided while they were attending a fundraiser for Moffett in Washington, DC (via Lex H-L):

Lexington police on Feb. 10 raided The Botany Bay at 932 Winchester Road and seized a variety of illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, several thousand dollars in cash and two loaded guns, according to court records. Police arrested six people in connection with the raid, including store employees, who face pending felony and misdemeanor drug charges.

Police later charged store owners Ginny and Scott Saville, who were not present, with misdemeanor counts of trafficking in synthetic marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. They have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to appear next month in Fayette District Court.

Ginny Saville helped organize a Dec. 7 fund-raiser for Moffett and, with her husband, donated $2,000 to him. A large Moffett campaign poster hung in the store’s window Friday. When the raid happened, she and her husband were with the Moffett campaign at the Conservative Action Political Conference in Washington, D.C., according to Adams.

See that? Getting in trouble for marijuana isn't just for the left-wing fringe any more -- it's for the right-wing fringe as well, and 69 to 74% of the middle, depending on where you're from.