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The late John Prine, in his 1971 classic song, “Illegal Smile,” wrote: “You may see me tonight, with an illegal smile. It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while.” The journey marijuana has traveled in American culture during my lifetime is a fascinating one. A quick review of the music written about it alone, lays out a chronology of an embattled, yet steady shift in perspective since Prine wrote about it.
Last week, Leslie Bonilla Mũniz wrote for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, ‘Prominent Republicans back ‘safe and regulated’ marijuana. Republicans? Yes, Republicans. This election issue varied in prominence from state to state this year, but one thing that has become clear across the country is that the once prominent partisan lines of disagreement among citizens are gone.
“Safe and Regulated Indiana” has produced a thirty second ad encouraging Hoosiers to contact their legislators to support legalization, though they steer clear of that word. They also don’t announce on their website specifics about who is in their coalition, though I do like the site’s anonymous scroll of individuals, listed by first name and hometown only, showing the volume of support.
It’s this anonymity that is easy to identify as a campaign weakness. This is no longer 1971. Supporting a safe and regulated marijuana market in a state surrounded by existing markets, really doesn’t have much risk. More accurately, support is the viewpoint of the majority, just about everywhere in America.
Last year, Ohio voted to legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational use by a 57-43 vote. While Kentucky hasn’t legalized recreational use, legalized medical usage goes into effect on January 1, completing the surrounding of Indiana with markets.
But it’s not just our neighbors. Earlier this month, Florida voted on its own referendum. And while the vote failed to achieve that state’s needed 60% threshold for adoption, it did achieve a 56-44 percent majority of support. Talk about winning by failing.
If I were a politician in Florida, it would be uncomfortable, to say the least, to block policy progress on an issue with plus-12 support. And this isn’t polling data that pundits can attack with scientific or credibility rhetoric. This is a vote of the citizenry, following a robust public campaign on the issue. Florida is not a neighbor of Indiana though, so why should any Hoosier care about it?
Primarily because Floridians and Hoosiers vote alike more than either state would likely care to admit. Florida voted for Trump, 56-43. Indiana also did, 59-40.
What’s more important to me though, is that all data, whether looking at election results or polling, shows that ‘safe and regulated’ use is what Americans support. The concern all of this is raising for me is the disconnection between those who are elected and those who are doing the electing. The marijuana debate, and the Indiana General Assembly’s resistance to movement on the issue, is documenting its disconnection from Hoosier voters again.
One thing I hear and read more often each day is from people irritated by the regular smell of marijuana in the air. I walk several miles every day, most of it in downtown Indianapolis, and rarely do I go on a long walk anymore without smelling it. But I’ve always liked the smell of it, so don’t list me as a complainer on that front. Further, it also shows that even without a legal market, the illegal presence of it here is likely as prominent as it was the last time I traveled to San Francisco.
Coalition-backed survey finds ‘overwhelming’ number of Hoosiers support cannabis regulations
More and more, people are using it openly, even without a new law.
The odor issue is not without merit, though. Andrew Zaleski wrote a detailed piece about it for Bloomberg in April, studying the issue from New York to Amsterdam. There are initiatives and legal action being pursued on the odor front, but these movements seem to lack energy. As reported in the article, “One 2023 survey of 600 New Jersey residents, for example, found that barely one-fifth of people complained about people smoking pot in the open.”
I guess it just doesn’t stink enough.
I’ve written about Indiana’s perimeter before. The contrast our state has with those just on the other side of our lines continues to become more stark. Even with our red neighbors.
Yes, the electorate in all of our surrounding states have taken a monumentally different position on what I believe to be the issue of the day, women’s reproductive health. But all four of our border states have also surrounded Indiana with “illegal smiles.”
How illegal? Prine wrote: “Won’t you please tell the man I didn’t kill anyone. No, I’m just tryin’ to have me some fun.”
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