The marijuana legalization movement needs to bank on the fact that Americans are currently pessimistic about the government and society in general, at least according to Eaun Wilson. In a recent online interview with Blooomberg Business Week, Wilson, a researcher at Gainsville, Georgia based think tank the Socionomics Institute, says that negative social moods drive major social change.

His organization studies how the general mood of society as a whole affects financial markets and other social trends, and his interview highlights how marijuana prohibition steps forward just so happen to be occurring during a time where more Americans than not are displeased with Washington, the federal government, and lots of things in general.

A similar study from Socionomics on the relationship between hard times and happy music also confirms that people tend to create art when they’re bummed out or generally angry about things. The more you think about it, the more it makes plenty of sense- of course people would want to have legalized weed in a time where it seems like not too many other things are looking up.

Is is any wonder that other social changes are also taking place at the same time? Major strides in legal same-sex marriage are also happening at the same time that marijuana prohibition is, both instances where advocates are fighting decades-long stigma against what is otherwise a totally harmless thing.

Now that more Americans are for marijuana prohibition that not for it, it’s hard to believe that things would start going back in the other direction if the national mood picks up, since two states will now begin selling cannabis for strictly recreational purposes in less than a month. But just in case, I’m hoping that US congress continues its new trend of history-setting dysfunction; that way, at least we all get safe, legal, and easy access to herb.