Several states have adopted recreational marijuana legislation (RML). While the public favors RML, open questions remain concerning the specific implementation of legalization. Specifically, how do Americans feel the revenue from such sales should be spent? Relatedly, what justice reforms should be considered? Not least, what proportion of the public remains uncertain about these facets of regulation and how does this uncertainty impact policy preferences for investment and reform? These are important questions to examine given the public’s influence in the emergence of RML. Drawing on a 2022 national poll (N = 1,003), this study examines public attitudes toward investment strategies (e.g., public schools) and justice system responses due to legalization (e.g., expungement). Results suggest that most of the public approves of these measures. However, divides in favoring specific initiatives are evident. Implications are discussed.
AdinoffB.ReimanA. (2019). Implementing social justice in the transition from illicit to legal cannabis. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 45(6), 673–688. https://doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2019.1674862
BakerT.ClearyH. M.PickettJ. T.GertzM. G. (2016). Crime salience and public willingness to pay for child saving and juvenile punishment. Crime & Delinquency, 62(5), 645–668. https://doi.org/10.1177/001112871350548
4.
Ballard-RosaC.MartinL.ScheveK. (2017). The structure of American income tax policy preferences. The Journal of Politics, 79(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1086/687324
5.
BélandD. (2016). Kingdon reconsidered: Ideas, interests, and institutions in comparative policy analysis. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 18(3), 228–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2015.1029770
6.
BeltzL.MosherC.SchwartzJ. (2020). County-level differences in support for recreational cannabis on the ballot. Contemporary Drug Problems, 47(2), 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091450920925581
BrownE. K.SociaK. M. (2017). Twenty-first century punitiveness: Social sources of punitive American views reconsidered. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(4), 935–959. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-016-9319-4
10.
CarlinerH.BrownQ. L.SarvetA. L.HasinD. S. (2017). Cannabis use, attitudes, and legal status in the U.S.: A review. Preventive Medicine, 104, 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.07.008
11.
CochranJ. K.SandersB. A. (2009). The gender gap in death penalty support: An exploratory study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 37(6), 525–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.09.001
12.
ColonnaR.HandC. L.HolmesJ. D.AlvarezL. (2021). Exploring youths’ beliefs towards cannabis and driving: A mixed method study. Traffic Psychology and Behavior, 82(1), 429–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2021.09.013
13.
CrawfordN. N. (2021). We’d go well together: A critical race analysis of marijuana legalization and expungement in the United States. Public Integrity, 23(5), 459–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2021.1955512
14.
CruzJ. M.BoidiM. F.QueiroloR. (2018). The status of support for cannabis regulation in Uruguay four years after reform: Evidence from public opinion surveys. Drug and Alcohol Review, 37(S1), S429–S434. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.12642
15.
DenhamB. E. (2019). Attitudes toward legalization of marijuana in the United States, 1986–2016: Changes in determinants of public opinion. International Journal of Drug Policy, 71(1), 78–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.06.007
16.
DillsA.GoffardS.MironJ.PartinE. (2021, February2). The effect of state marijuana legalizations: 2021 Update. Cato Institute. https://doi.org/10.36009/PA.908
DoonanS. M.JohnsonJ. K.FirthC.FloresA.JoshiS. (2022). Racial equity in cannabis policy: Diversity in the Massachusetts adult-use industry at 18-months. Cannabis, 5(1), 30–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.26828/cannabis/2022.01.004
19.
EllisJ. D.ReskoS. M.SzechyK.SmithR.EarlyT. J. (2019). Characteristics associated with attitudes toward marijuana legalization in Michigan. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 51(4), 335-–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2019.1610199
20.
FreisthlerB.GaidusA.TamC.PonickiW. R.GruenewaldP. J. (2017). From medical to recreational marijuana sales: Marijuana outlets and crime in an era of changing marijuana legislation. Journal of Primary Prevention, 38(3), 249–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-017-0472-9
GrahamA.PickettJ. T.CullenF. T. (2021). Advantages of matched over unmatched opt-in samples for studying criminal justice attitudes: A research note. Crime & Delinquency, 67(12), 1962–1981. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128720977439
23.
HannahA. L. (2018). The politics of passing and implementing medical marijuana in Ohio. Ohio Journal of Economics and Politics, 24(1), 42–70. https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3184650
Ipsos. (2022). Ipsos Poll on Cannabis Legalization [dataset]. Cornell University: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. https://doi.org/10.25940/ROPER-31119528
JonesT. M.EisenbergN.KostermanR.LeeJ. O.BaileyJ. A.HaggertyK. P. (2020). Parents’ perceptions of adolescent exposure to marijuana following legalization in Washington state. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 11(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1086/707642
29.
KingdonJ. W. (1984). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. Longman.
30.
KvillemoP.StrandbergA. K.GripenbergJ. (2022). Attitudes to cannabis use and public prevention information among young adults: A qualitative interview study with implications for prevention practice. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.830201
31.
LauN.GersonM.KorensteinD.KeyhaniS. (2021). Internet claims on the health benefits of cannabis use. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 36(11), 3611–3614. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06421-w
32.
LeaC. H.MohrG.McCarterS. A.CoughlinS. B.GottliebA.PartlowB. S.MathewsK. S.KeshawnS.McLeodB. A. (2022). Promote smart decarceration and eliminate racism grand challenges for social work: Reimagining marijuana policy. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 49(XLIX), 27–63. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/jrlsasw49&i=205
33.
LeónK. S.WeitzerR. (2014). Legalizing recreational marijuana: Comparing ballot outcomes in four states. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology, 2(2), 193–218. https://doi.org/10.7282/t3-8de1-3b88
34.
LeungJ.ChiuV.ChanG. C.StjepanovićD.HallW. D. (2019). What have been the public health impacts of cannabis legalization in the U.S.A? A review of evidence on adverse and beneficial effects. Current Addiction Reports, 6(4), 418–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-019-00291-x
35.
LongJ. S.FreeseJ. (2014). Regression models for categorical dependent variables using Stata (3rd ed.). Stata Press.
36.
MallinsonD. J.HannahA. L.CunninghamG. (2020). The consequences of fickle federal policy: Administrative hurdles for state cannabis policies. State and Local Government Review, 52(4), 241–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X20984540
37.
ManciniC.BuddK. M. (2022). Legalize it, criticize it, or something else? Americans’ attitudes toward federal recreational marijuana legislation (RML). Crime & Delinquency. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221118022
38.
McGintyE. E.NiederdeppeJ.HeleyK.BarryC. L. (2017). Public perceptions of arguments supporting and opposing recreational marijuana legalization. Preventive Medicine, 99, 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.01.024
39.
McGintyE. E.SamplesH.BandaraS. N.SalonerB.BachhuberM. A.BarryC. L. (2016). The emerging public discourse on state legalization of marijuana for recreational use in the U.S.: Analysis of news media coverage, 2010–2014. Preventive Medicine, 90, 114–120. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.06.040
MooneyA. C.SkogA.LermanA. E. (2022). Racial equity in eligibility for a clean slate under automatic criminal record relief laws. Law & Society Review, 56(3), 398–417. https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12625
42.
MosherC. J.AkinsS. (2019). In the weeds: Demonization, legalization, and the evolution of U.S. marijuana policy. Temple University Press.
ReskoS. M.EllisJ.EarlyT. J.SzechyK. A.RodriguezB.AgiusE. (2019). Understanding public attitudes toward cannabis legalization: Qualitative findings from a statewide survey. Substance Use & Misuse, 54(8), 1247–1259. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2018.1543327
52.
ReskoS. M.SzechyK. A.EarlyT. J.EllisJ. D.HicksD.AgiusE. (2021). Perceptions of public health consequences of marijuana legalization. Addiction Research & Theory, 29(3), 255–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2020.1823971
SchuelerB. E.WestM. R. (2016). Sticker shock: How information affects citizen support for public school funding. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80(1), 90–113. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfv047
55.
SkolnickJ. (1988). The social transformation of vice. Law and Contemporary Problems, 51(1), 9–29. https://doi.org/10.2307/1191713
StithS. S.VigilJ. M.BrockelmanF.KeelingK.HallB. (2019). The association between cannabis product characteristics and symptom relief. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39462-1
58.
StringerR. J.MaggardS. R. (2021). From “Just Say No” to “I Didn’t Inhale” to “We Have Bigger Fish to Fry”: The president, the media, and attitudes toward marijuana legalization. Deviant Behavior, 42(1), 112–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2019.1653483
59.
ThieloA. J.GrahamA.CullenF. T. (2021). The opt-in internet survey. In BarnesJ. C.FordeD. R. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of research in criminology and criminal justice (Vol. 1, 1st ed., pp. 274–279). John Wiley & Sons.
60.
ThompsonA. J.PickettJ. T. (2019). Are relational inferences from crowdsourced and opt-in samples generalizable? Comparing criminal justice attitudes in the GSS and five online samples. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 36(4), 907–932. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-019-09436-7
Van GundyK.RebellonC. J. (2010). A life-course perspective on the “gateway hypothesis.”Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(3), 244–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146510378238
WeitzerR. (2012). Legalizing prostitution: From illicit vice to lawful business. NYU Press.
68.
WenH.HockenberryJ. M.DrussB. G. (2019). The effect of medical marijuana laws on marijuana-related attitude and perception among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Prevention Science, 20(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0903-8
69.
WuG.WillitsD. W. (2022). The impact of recreational marijuana legalization on simple assault in Oregon. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(23–24), NP23180–NP23201. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221076169
