Let them toke

The latest responses in an annual Gallup poll show that 66 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. That’s in stark contrast to 1969, when only 12 percent of Americans were on board. From the ’70s to the early 2000s, the poll held steady in the 20 percent range. Since then, it began to trend upward, reaching majority support in 2013, a year after Colorado and Washington voters legalized recreational use via ballot initiative. It isn’t just a Democrat-led shift. Gallup reports that a slim majority of Republicans support legalizing pot (53 percent, compared to 75 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents). In the Nov. 6 midterm election, Michigan voters decided to join Washington, D.C., and nine other states that have already legalized recreational use. Last month, Canada became the second nation (after Uruguay) to fully legalize marijuana.