Valentina Canon, & Dr. Sean Kelly
When recreational Cannabis was legalized in Washington state in 2012, it created procedures for licensing and regulation in different counties and cities of the state. It lets adults 21 years of age and older possess up to one ounce of the drug for personal use. However, some regulations are up to change if the county or city wants to change them. It should be noted that Cannabis is still federally illegal as it is still counted as a drug of high abuse potential. But, according to policy diffusion theory, state decisions are made based on the state’s challenges or following a state’s renewable portfolio implementation. Washington was the first state to take this decision, responding to changing attitudes toward Cannabis and growing knowledge of its potential benefits. The state’s cannabis regulations were finally developed after years of deliberation and research, with proponents pointing out the financial benefits of legalization and opponents bringing up concerns about public health and safety. As a result, many states follow it. This project has two parts. First, I use binary logistic regression to test the hypothesis that a state with voter initiative is more likely to adopt and control the decision. These results confirm the theory that the expectation that the initiative state plays an essential role in the initial diffusion of legalization policies in other states. In the second case, I adjusted diffusion theory to apply to legalization at different Washington County levels. The relationship between the county vote for legalization, where citizens are in favor, and the cities’ ability to make judgments is what I am focusing on when I discuss the decisions to legalize or prohibit retail states. Since voting should be used to determine these kinds of decisions and to achieve what the people desire, everything here reflects democracy.