Noah Smith, Columnist

It's Up to Republicans to Legalize Marijuana

The public supports decriminalizing, which might help fight the opioid epidemic.

April 20, 2018 at 9:00 AM UTC

Noah Smith is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.

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Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg

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If only Nixon could go to China, as the saying goes, then maybe only Republicans can legalize weed.

Marijuana has now been legalized for medical use in many states -- only Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota still prohibit use in any form. Nine states allow recreational marijuana use, and 13 others have decriminalized recreational use to some extent. Meanwhile, public support for legalizing the drug continues to grow, and is now firmly in majority territory: