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You have the causation reversed. Marijuana, abortion, and gay marriage were all legalized because they became socially acceptable while illegal and the laws no

• umvi 6y ago
  I admitted as such, but wouldn't you say the legalization gave an additional boost to social acceptance? Social acceptance isn't a yes/no, it's a 0-100% based on the fraction of the population that accepts it. And if marijuana was at, say, 50% acceptance before legalization, I would imagine (I'm just making these numbers up) legalization boosted it to 75%.
  • tchaffee 6y ago
    No, I don't think you've nailed causation of social acceptance. In Switzerland after they legalized heroin and decided it was not a legal problem but a medical problem, heroin use plummeted among young people. It became socially unacceptable. Abortion is tricky because you can be against abortion but in favor of the right to choose. I know many people, even Christians, who hold this stance. We do know abortion rates go down when abortions are made legal. So that would seem to perhaps point to the laws not having much to do with social acceptance around abortion. As far as marijuana we could use real numbers. Only 8% of Americans think marijuana should be illegal. So no I don't expect a big jump with legalization. I would imagine the number of people who find it socially acceptable to go from let's say 92% to maybe 93%. [1] [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-s...