If the Legislature is supposed to be doing what Kansans want, then either it or the Kansas Speaks survey run each year by Fort Hays State University is not doing a very good job.

The survey has shown strong support for legalizing marijuana – 63 percent in favor, 25 percent against. Those seem like pretty strong odds, but the Legislature has never even considered limited legalization, such as medicinal marijuana, which once passed the Senate but never got a vote in the House.

And this in an era when even senior citizens came of age in a time when “weed” was becoming nearly as broadly accepted in society as alcohol. 

Some might say Fort Hays does not conduct a good poll, that it always skews to the left, but 63 percent acceptance does not speak of an extremist viewpoint. That puts legal marijuana well past the broad middle of the road.

Here’s the problem, and it’s a lesson from history that people just won’t learn: prohibition seldom, if EVER, succeeds. We tried it a little more than 100 years ago with Demon Rum and eventually had to face our failure. It was a “noble experiment,” in which Kansas played a big part.

What did it really accomplished, however, other than promoting bloodshed in cities and sometimes the country as gangs fought over control of the hooch trade? It did make a bunch of small-time Italian gangsters rich and powerful, and it financed the building of Las Vegas. 

I guess that was good for society.

And while Kansas was at the forefront of the prohibition movement, it definitely was not a leader in repeal. it did not remove the ban on “the open saloon” from its Constitution until 1986, 52 years after adoption of the 21st Amendment. Kansas was one of a few states that did not even call a state convention to voted on repeal.

The rest of the nation had voted for repeal; even Utah backed the amendment. However, the drys remained in control in the Kansas Legislature long after that time, and it took a real effort to change our Constitution.

If we accept California legalizing marijuana in 1996 as the beginning of the end, then we’ve got another 23 years to wait, until at least 2048. 

Why is the Kansas Legislature so conservative on these issues when society has moved on? It used to be the influence of the prohibition movement; today, I’d say it’s mostly due to the Right to Life movement. Without the support of this group, it’s next to impossible to win a Republican primary for the Legislature. And that leaves us with a pretty conservative crowd.

Voters in general? Right at 70 percent agree with the statement that women are in a better position to determine whether to get an abortion than politicians. And that is how Kansans voted when presented with a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. 

The Legislature of course is all about roadblocks to abortion, even though the state’s liberal Supreme Court and its voters have backed women’s choice.

I don’t expect to be around in 2048, and even if I am, I doubt I’d decide to take up marijuana, seeing how I’ve done without it this long.

I don’t expect to change my mind about abortion, either, but I do believe women, not the state, should have the right to decide that issue themselves. But it will be a cold day somewhere when our Legislature sees things that way, polls or no polls. And don’t even think about bringing back some of those fancy cookies from Colorado.

Steve Haynes began his professional newspaper career at the Kansas City Star. He eventually became the co-owner, publisher and editor of Haynes Publishing Co. for nearly 30 years until his retirement. Haynes is a William Allen White Foundation Trustee and was inducted into the Kansas Press Association Hall of Fame in 2023.