I was in Arizona for a bachelor's party the other weekend, and I was surprised that it was legal there, given the GOP control of the state. Wild West, baby! I do think that opposing its legalization even for medical purposes has indeed become a pretty fringe position. Other than very vocal minorities, many Americans seem to mostly want to live their lives and be left alone, and that extends to everything from excessive wokeness/"cancel culture" to still caring about gay marriage to high taxes to caring if someone smokes weed.
I don't think the AZ GOP would've considered legalizing. It was done via ballot initiative. What is surprising is that it passed 60-40 (after the 49-51 failure in 2016), the second best result in the nation so far (second only to NJ voting 67-33 in support of legalization). When even South Dakota is voting for legalization, I think there are very few states where recreational marijuana would fail on the ballot if it has the chance.
I have been surprised at how quickly opinion on this issue has moved over the years. It's not like the gay rights movement that had significant support from all different aspects of society and had a lot to do with visibility and portraying normality (Mitch and Cam from Modern Family come to mind).
It'd be nice if it were, but it's simply no longer practical.
Better off going full-on Utah-with-Alcohol at this point.
I'm in support of legalization for a variety of reasons, but I think this is a bad idea. Marijuana isn't the same as alcohol. One of the intents of legalization is to attack the black market, particularly the cartels south of the border. Overtaxing and overregulating are bad ideas that will keep people in the black market.
