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Marijuana mood is shifting nationwide

Last week Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced that at the direction of the mayor, his department would end sting operations aimed at low-level marijuana sales.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Today six mayors from cities in states with legal marijuana announced they have formed a coalition to prepare other states and the federal government for legalization.

Mayors from Denver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and West Sacramento sponsored a resolution at the Conference of Mayors in Boston that asked the government to remove cannabis from a list of illegal drugs.

On Twitter, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said, "Mayors are the ones implementing legal marijuana. We know what works & what doesn't."

Public opinion on marijuana continues to shift in favor of legalization. The Pew Research Center found in January that six-in-ten Americans (61 percent) say the use of marijuana should be legalized. That number is nearly double what it was in 2000 (31 percent).

"There's been huge change in public opinion. Since the 1960s or so it was maybe 1 in 5 people supported legalization. And then over time it's gradually increased," said Chris Uggen, a criminologist and University of Minnesota Regents Professor.

Nine states, as well as Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana while an additional 20 states allow marijuana for medical use. In Minnesota, cannabis is legal for medical use but not for recreational. The state has decriminalized possession to some degree.

RELATED: Mpls. mayor directs police to end low-level pot stings

Last week Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced that at the direction of the mayor, his department would end sting operations aimed at low-level marijuana sales. The public defender's office said that 46 of their 47 clients arrested in undercover marijuana stings this year are black.

"This is happening around the country and I think... that's one of the real reasons here for people suggesting we need to take a closer look at these laws and enforcement priorities," Uggen said.

President Donald Trump announced last week that he will likely back a bipartisan effort to ease a federal ban on pot—putting him at odds with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

RELATED: President Trump says he'd likely support bill to end federal pot ban

"You can sort of see incrementally that we're moving toward a place of decriminalization, certainly, if not legalization. The one sort of caveat to that is that the federal system remains kind of opposed to legalization... so there's a lot of uncertainty currently right now regarding the relationship between state and federal jurisdiction," Uggen said.

When it comes to both medical and recreational use, Uggen said we need more research.

"I do think about the effect on criminal behavior, on public safety and on use rates. And particularly there's a lot of concerns with young users," he said. "I think another area we need better research on is what are the effects of legalization? And what are some of the harms that could come from opening it up?"

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