How will US legalization happen?
“It is impossible to wake a man who is pretending to be asleep” Navajo Proverb
No one can predict when legalization occurs, but I can say how it will happen.
The catalyst will be the invisible hand known as the Overton Window.
First, some background with an expert cannabis lawyer, Marc Hauser. In his newsletter, Cannabis Musings, Marc wrote:
“Let’s take a quick look at The STATES 2.0 Act that was filed in Congress last week. Is it good? Probably. Does it matter? Almost certainly not. Why? Well, as we’ve said for a long time around here…, cannabis policy is inherently irrational.”
All true, and I would supplement his last sentence (i.e. the ‘why’) with another explanation.
Enter the Overton Window.
The Overton Window is a framework for understanding how political change occurs. Formulated in the late 1990s at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, it outlines the range of policy options that are considered acceptable to the electorate at any given time.
In democracies only a narrow range of would-be policies are typically considered politically acceptable. This "window" of acceptable options is mainly defined not by a politicians' personal inclinations or business lobbying, but by what they believe they can support without jeopardizing their electability or the favour of their political masters.
Policies like cannabis legalization that sit outside the OW are often viewed as radical, unthinkable, or politically toxic…until the window swings. This shift can happen gradually, influenced by public sentiment and media framing, or rapidly due to a crisis.
The cannabis OW will move not when a politician's ideas change, but when societal attitudes, Trump’s priorities and public opinion evolves (e.g., when stigma declines, or awareness of weed’s benefits grow).
This change in societal views will then influence what politicians feel they can support and still maintain public approval and electability.
Marc hints about the cannabis OW in his final point, which he makes emphatically clear in English and Yiddish:
“…unless something changes, or unless someone wants to endow the National Garden of American Heroes, [STATES 2.0] is oyfen himmel a yarid (“much ado about nothing”).
The implications of the OW hypothesis is clear. We should:
Appeal directly to the electorate with grass roots action, advertising, and emotional messages. Focus on States that have cannabis-neutral politicians.
Capitalize on any health-related ‘crisis’ by driving positive cannabis messages.
Spend less effort and money on dubious corporate lobbying efforts.
These changes could help shift the OW. Let’s make it happen.
#cannabis #cannabisindustry #USA #legalization #overtonwindow
Research needs to be lobbed through the window in order to change minds.
This industry has produced billions of dollars in revenue. How much has the industry invested in research to buoy claims?
Drug Free America continues to share anti-cannabis commentary despite the absence of direct evidence implicating products purchased in the regulated market by consumers age 21+. These stories are circulated and shared by two mothers who are the real power behind stagnant regulation.
To confront this not-so-secret force, Shawn Hauser of Vicente is launching TIP - The Interum Project - because history has shown that advocacy groups headed by women invoke change. If TIP also had research to point to, we'd have a new message to bring to this old conversation.