 Pot. Sweet. Glorious pot. Few issues have seen a more rapid shift in public opinion, with a majority of Americans now in favor of legalizing marijuana. That's up from just 34% a decade ago. But not everybody is down with the reefer. In fact, several powerful industries are actually buying as much political influence as they can to try and stop this growing legalization movement. Now, pot is legal in some form in over half the country. And as legalization advocates have pointed out, things actually seem to be going pretty well so far. My lovely home state of Colorado, for instance, has seen marijuana arrests plummet since legalization was approved by voters in 2012, freeing up law enforcement to focus on other crimes and saving the state millions in enforcement costs. Hacks revenues are also through the roof, with legal marijuana set to pour $125 million into state coffers last year alone. But some political leaders still aren't convinced. The most recent example is Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who actually doubled down on her opposition to legalization in a recent interview with the New York Times. It's a position that puts her at odds with a good 65% of self-identified Democrats, which kind of raises the question, why would one of the Democratic Party's top figures oppose something that so many of her own people support? One possible reason, Wasserman Schultz's reelection campaign has received a big financial boost from the alcohol industry, which stands to suffer financially if legalized pot cuts into its market share. Our analysis of contribution data found that Wasserman Schultz and her leadership pack have received more than $330,000 from the beer, wine, and liquor industry since her first congressional election cycle in 2006. Now, to be fair, Wasserman Schultz isn't the only politician to benefit from big booze. The beer, wine, and liquor industry contributed more than $17 million to federal candidates in the last election cycle, and has funded opponents of citizen-led ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana. And the alcohol business might actually have reason to worry about growing competition from legal reefer. In Colorado, tax revenues from pot have actually outpaced taxes raised from alcohol for the first time ever, with few signs of sales slowing down. And big booze isn't the only established industry fighting marijuana. Several others stand to lose money off of legalization, too, and they're willing to spend good money buying the political influence they need to try and stop it. Take our pals in the pharmaceutical lobby. As retired police officer turned legalization advocate Howard Woolridge explained, Farma is a top opponent of legalization due to the emerging potential of marijuana as an alternative to everything from ibuprofen to Vicodin. And this claim has been borne out by some excellent reporting from journalist Lee Fong, whose work highlights the deep ties between many national groups leading the charge against legalization and the makers of highly addictive opioid painkillers such as OxyContin and Zohydrol. Rounding out our merry band of legalization opponents is the prison industry. Police unions, often a major force in state and local politics, have funneled money to anti-legalization campaigns and lobbyists. In some cases, to protect police access to federal funds made available to departments that tackle marijuana-related offenses. Then there's prison guard unions, who have spent big to defeat reform efforts that emphasize drug treatment programs instead of harsh prison sentences. And finally, there's private prison companies, which have openly admitted that any changes to laws affecting drugs and controlled substances could reduce demand for prison beds and hurt their bottom line. But here's the cool part. Even though the anti-legalization crowd has a ton of money and lobbying power, the pro-legalization crowd has still managed to get some major wins at the state and local level. And they've done it by going around local political figures and taking things straight to the people using the bowel initiative process. So the lesson here is clear and actually kind of nice for once. If you're an activist facing big money opposition and a political class that won't give you the time of day, you can still beat the powers that beat. You just have to go around politics as usual and take things directly to the people. Alright, I got a ton more rambling to do about how awesome ballot initiatives are, but that's gonna have to wait for another day. If you have any questions about money in politics or corruption, just send an email to mailbagatrepresent.us for a chance to have your question answered on this very show by this very host during the mailbag segment that I just decided we have now. Mailbag. Thank you, yes you, for watching Follow the Money. Please help us spread the word about corruption by passing this along to your friends and family and follow the links at the end of this video or in the description below to subscribe to our YouTube channel. I'm Monsour for Represent Us and I will see you next time.