But the politicians ain’t a-listenin’.

The latest evidence that The People¹ are way ahead of the politicians on this one comes from our friends at “the Google”.  Google Trends is a feature that allows you to map the prevalence on a search request on the internet through Google.  In human terms, it tells you what people are looking for².

When we plug in the search term “legalize marijuana”, and limit it to the United States, we get a chart that looks like this:

What we’re seeing here is 2004-2006.  This chart shows the searches relative to a baseline average, which is 1.0 on this chart.  Every year, searches for “legalize marijuana” spike in the spring (around 4/20, I’ll bet) and winter, which is usually election time.  

When the chart hits 2.0, that’s twice as many searches as average.  Around election time, it spikes to triple in 2006 and five-times the average searches in 2004 and 2005.  But when the chart dips to 0.0, searches for “legalize marijuana” are far worse than average, right around summer time. 

However, when we take a look at the last two years, something interesting has happened.  In 2007, interest in “legalize marijuana” stayed relatively constant, with a slight spike in spring and winter.  In 2008 the trend continues but shows spikes in the middle of summer – the primary season – and a huge increase in interest around this presidential election without the drop to 0.0 we saw in 2004.

As I read the explanation for the math behind this (and recognizing I’m no Danica McKellar, either), it seems that if “all numbers are relative to total traffic”, and the total traffic on the internet is rising a thousand times every five years, then if “legalize marijuana” is staying at or above the relative average of 1.0, then interest in the topic has been rising steadily since late 2006!  No 0.0’s in nine straight quarters!

Also, the steady line of this graph shows me that “legalize marijuana” is becoming more mainstream, as it is not just spiking when there’s a 4/20 or an election that might show spikes due to us dedicated activists.

This comports well with what we see from public opinion polls.  The 2007 Zogby Opinion Poll on the question of “eliminat[ing] federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by adults and allow states to adopt their own policies on marijuana?” found that The People are evenly split on ending cannabis prohibition at 49% in favor, 48% opposed, with majorities in the east and west in favor.  Support of The People for this question, phrased one way or another, has risen steadily over twenty years.

We also find that the public support for medicinal use of marijuana is strong at between 70% and 80% in favor of ending criminal penalties on people using cannabis as medicine with a doctor’s supervision.

We’ve told you how President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team was “Open for Questions” at Change.gov.  We shared the joy of learning that after 978,868 votes on 10,302 questions from 20,468 people, the #1 question asked by The People was:

“Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?”

We also shared the contempt for The People when the transition team issued the curt eleven-word reply to a very complex and reasonable question:

“President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”

Now in the second round of “Open for Questions” is on and in the “National Security” category, after 284,445 votes on 4,449 questions from 20,121 people, we find this question in the #1 slot:

“Our current war on drugs is failing America. Billions of dollars are spent on a losing campaign. Our prisons are overflowing with people that don’t deserve to be there. What is the government going to do in an effort to fix this major problem?”

And in the “Additional Issues” category, after 811,832 votes on 13,539 questions from 45,291 people, sitting in the #2 slot is this question (behind a question on appointing Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the Bush Administration):

“The people of this country want marijuana decriminalization, when will marijuana be decriminalized? Why continue to spend billions of dollars to prohibit marijuana when evidence shows that the war on drugs is, as you said, “an utter failure”?”

Over at the other site, Change.org, not affiliated with the Obama transition team, we see a similar theme.  Their #1 issue as voted on by The People was “Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana”, which has now moved on to Round #2 of the “competition”.

Then there was that little public opinion poll called the election, where medical marijuana passed in Michigan by 63% and passed in every single county, even the ones that voted for John McCain.  We saw decriminalization of marijuana passed in Massachusetts by 65%, and in both states, the marijuana reform laws got more votes than Barack Obama did!

When will the politicians hear us?  What will it take for them to get the message that the people want new thinking in drug policy and they don’t think that marijuana use by adults is literally a federal crime?

² And when it comes to “legalize marijuana” the place looking for it the most is Orlando, Florida, followed by Denver, Portland (yay!), Tampa, and San Diego. Florida is really looking for some legal marijuana!