The Resistance Movement Against Marijuana - Wyoming isn’t the only state fighting the drug

by Wyoming Liberty Group

Just in case you're wondering, we in Wyoming are not alone.

Other states are fighting against powerful pro-pot forces that are trying to legalize marijuana throughout the country.

We've been part of the resistance movement for several years, and perhaps it's part of our DNA, the rugged individualism and independence that distinguishes the Cowboy State from others. We've repelled various attempts by outsiders to legalize marijuana in Wyoming but we know the weed industry, driven by greed, will be back; after all, they've kicked in the door in 24 states, nearly half the country, legalizing so-called "recreational" use of marijuana. That's just a euphemism for "adult use." Another 14 states allow for what's called "medical" marijuana. That's another euphemism.

A better word: folly.

But it's of comfort to know that other states, aware of the significant hazards of marijuana, are fighting back—successfully—even as the federal government moves to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug and just as Florida is engaged in a titanic struggle between pro-and-con forces to legalize recreational marijuana.

In one recent and prominent case, the majority of the good people of South Dakota said they oppose efforts in what's known as Measure 29 to legalize so-called recreational marijuana in their state, in a statewide poll of registered voters. Of the respondents, 52 percent were opposed to the measure, while 42 supported it and 7 percent were undecided.

The numbers were significant in South Dakoka, which had already rejected a similar measure in 2022 by the same margin, 52 percent to 47 percent. But more worrisome to the pro-pot forces, the poll indicated a decline in support for legalization since 2020 when a "recreational marijuana" amendment had passed with 54 percent of the vote.

At that time, the governor there successfully challenged the constitutionality of that marijuana initiative on something of a technicality. (But medical marijuana slipped into South Dakota.)

Is it possible that the declining support of marijuana has to do with the havoc it's wreaking on people in states where the mind-altering drug has been legalized? The problems are manifold—an increase in drugged-driving accidents, ER visits, environmental damage and significant health risk to teenagers' developing brains and to many others, who have experienced respiratory damage and other troubling illnesses.

Perhaps even more revealing about the recent poll is that about 7 out of 10 Republicans in South Dakota oppose the latest marijuana initiative, while 24 percent of Democrats are in opposition. You get the drift.

In another state far from us in Wyoming, the resistance movement is gathering speed.

An effort to legalize so-called recreational marijuana in New Hampshire failed on its House floor. And this wasn't the first time that lawmakers rejected the measure. The House there had passed legalization bills in previous years, but the Senate had stopped them. But this time, while both chambers passed the measure, the House rejected a version that had been worked out by both sides. In the end, the measure was tabled, where it went nowhere.

By the way, pro-pot forces there make a familiar—if slippery—argument in support of recreational pot: That by legalizing pot, it gives the local government oversight of the mind-altering substance.

"This bill does address what the people of our state want," said a Democratic senator there. "And besides being the will of the majority, it allows us to do what is really necessary, and that is to regulate."

That, of course, ignores the fundamental problem, that marijuana is, to begin with, a hazard to the user's health. And the faulty argument also implicitly acknowledges that what is out there on the streets—illegal marijuana—is actually dangerous.

For what it's worth, the resistance movement against the growing encroachment of marijuana extends far beyond our shores. In fact, in Thailand, for instance, the government recently opened a 15-day opinion poll of the public to ask whether marijuana should be labeled a narcotic. That nation's public health ministry will then determine whether to move forward with such a reclassification. Thailand had decriminalized marijuana for so-called medical purposes in 2022. And it hasn't gone well.

To put it mildly.

That nation, struggling to regulate the drug, has recoiled over the consequences of the decision, with significant concerns about the rise of drug-related crime and an alarming proliferation of pot shops and vendors all over, marring beautiful places like Bangkok.