Citation

Collingwood L, O'Brien BG, Dreier S. Int. J. Drug Policy 2018; 56: 6-20.

Affiliation

Department of Political Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States. Electronic address: skdreier@uw.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.02.010

PMID

29539582

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first U.S. states to legalise recreational marijuana. By 2016, eight states and the District of Columbia had legalised recreational marijuana, with more expected to consider it in 2018. Despite this trend, little academic research explains what drives ballot-initiative vote choice on marijuana legalisation.

METHODS: This paper uses a pre-election random sample voter survey to examine the individual characteristics that correlated with Washington voters' support for legal recreational marijuana.

RESULTS: We find that voting on marijuana ballot initiatives largely reflects public opinion about marijuana and is particularly shaped voters' political ideology, party affiliation, religious affiliation and practice, and education. Notably, we find that those reporting experiences (i.e., someone they know) with the criminal justice system are more supportive of legalisation than those who do not.

CONCLUSION: We conclude that marijuana legalisation voting behavior generally aligns with public opinion on the issue. However, one key aspect of Washington's legalisation campaign-the criminal injustices of marijuana illegality-helped shape Washington state voting behavior. Further research is needed to examine if, when, and in what contexts criminal justice campaign themes are likely to strengthen or undermine future states' marijuana legalisation efforts.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Direct democracy; Marijuana legalisation; Public opinion