Newest poll: 59% of Americans want marijuana legalized

[RainDog]

http://blog.norml.org/2012/10/24/59-of-all-americans-want-marijuana-to-be-legalized/

A new poll, conducted by Huffington Post and YouGov, has support for marijuana legalization at an astounding 59% amongst all Americans – the largest support yet recorded in a nationwide poll. Only 26% of respondents stated that marijuana should remain illegal.

The survey asked 1,000 U.S. adults their views on the legalization of marijuana and provided them four options to select from. The breakdown is as follows:

1) Marijuana should be legalized, taxed, and regulated like alcohol – 51%
2) Marijuana should be legalized but NOT taxed and regulated like alcohol – 8%
3) Marijuana should not be legalized – 26%
4) Not sure – 15%

These results show a continued upward trend in support for marijuana legalization in this country. Last year, Gallup recorded support out pacing opposition, 50% to 46%, for the first time in about four decades of polling on the question. Another survey by AngusReid had support for legalization as high as 56%. Worth noting in this recent data is that much of the country is still not comfortable with the unregulated “tomato” model of legalization and prefer regulations similar to alcohol by about 5 to 1 (52% to 8%).

[bluestateguy]

1. That number would not materialize at the ballot box

Not yet anyway.

Too many of the supporters of legalization are the most unreliable voters: young people, singles and parents without children.

I'd love to be wrong, but I don't know if that 59% number could withstand a massive ad campaign from the prohibitionist crowd and their scare tactics.

[RainDog]

4. Nevertheless - the trend has remained and increased for legalization

Since the 1990s, support for legalization has grown and has never returned to Reagan Drug War levels.

Hopefully Colorado and Washington State will lead the way for the rest of the nation. Along with the judges currently reviewing an appeal in the important court in D.C.

The overwhelming numbers of political and social organizations who support legalization is also a good gauge of where voter sentiments lie, as well as the increasing number of state-level Democratic parties that include cannabis law reform as part of their platforms.

[mick063]

16. I disagree

It will pass in my state.


Then it ends up in Federal court.


Who knows what happens from there.

[RainDog]

17. I hope you and others in these states will keep us up to date

via local news orgs, too, that are tracking this issue.

[Logical]

21. What state?

[ohheckyeah]

19. Everybody I know that is for legalization

is at minimum 58 years old.....old hippies. Hell, even my 86 year old parents would vote for legalization.

[RainDog]

22. You need to get out more

The strongest support for legalization runs from 18 to 49.





I don't fit your demographic at all and I support legalization - so, so much for your claim, huh?

[ohheckyeah]

23. I just said it was everybody

I know that is for legalization. I certainly didn't say that was the national demographic.

And what's up with the attitude? I didn't fucking CLAIM anything except for the people I personally know who are for legalization and certainly didn't include YOU in my demographic.

Jesus - what is wrong with people tonight?

[RainDog]

27. apologies

I'm sort of aggravated about something else. pardon me for misunderstanding. honestly.

[ohheckyeah]

29. Thank you for the apology.

I understand the being aggravated about something else. Please accept my apology for the over-the-top reply.



If that's too much we can settle for

[ibegurpard]

2. It should be legalized and controlled like alcohol

a fucking COLOSSAL waste of law enforcement time and money

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. I agree completely!

[Go Vols]

31. controlled like beer and wine maybe ...

if I choose to make my own at home I should be able to,if people choose not to grow their own, then sell it in stores and tax it.

[SomethingFishy]

33. Yes on Prop 64 in Colorado!!!

Legalize, control and tax!!!

We will be the first state to legalize.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. We'll put that to the test on election day in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon.

Legalization is on the ballot in all three states, and Detroit, too!

[RainDog]

7. ...

[0rganism]

28. the Oregon measure is kind of a mess

if it doesn't pass, which seems likely at this time, please don't hold it against us

[DollarBillHines]

5. Screw 'em, let them move to a nation that lives in a democratic reality. nt

[limpyhobbler]

6. really an idea whose time has come. nt

[woo me with science]

9. Yep, and Americans across party lines also want to protect Social Security benefits.

Representative government, my ass.

[RainDog]

10. Sometimes the govt has to be forced to do the right thing

And this issue is one of those things where the people have to simply continue to insist on their constitutional rights and continue to acknowledge the wrongs of the right wing war on cannabis.

[woo me with science]

18. "...insist on their Constitutional rights..."

The spy center in Utah to allow government monitoring of all phone calls and emails is going up, the administration is drafting an executive order to bring on CISPA, the plans for an internet ID are in progress, the government coordinates attacks on peaceful protesters, we are groped at airports, police departments are acquiring military drones, and warrantless wiretapping and indefinite detention are now the law of the land.

And none of it ever gets mentioned in the media or in an election campaign. The politicians and the media pretend that none of it is happening.

If we really are going to insist on our Constitutional rights, we had better start doing it soon...

[RainDog]

20. we're talking about one specific issue here

That has a record of change - in spite of the prison-industrial complex. That's what I was referring to - although, yes, the War on Drugs was the first route to undermining constitutional rights to privacy, etc. long before the "war on terror" (and the despots we put in power.)

No doubt the over-reaction b/c of 9-11 has had horrid repercussions. these things have happened in the past, too, and the pendulum has swung toward correcting these things at the ballot box. Debs, Japanese Internment Camps... we don't have a perfect past in any way.

[SomethingFishy]

35. I think it's a bit late for that..

Drove through Texas on I-10 last week. Stopped 4 times at "checkpoints". My favorite was the one where the 3 dogs were walked around my car sniffing for god knows what.

While I wouldn't say we are in a total police state yet, it sure felt like it on I-10 last week.

I work in the concert industry. After the busts of Willie, Snoop, Nellie, and Fiona Apple, Texas and I-10 are becoming places to avoid on tour.

[RainDog]

11. Colorado tax enforcer to ’60 Minutes’: Weed beat the recession in Denver

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/22/colorado-tax-enforcer-tells-60-minutes-weed-beat-the-recession-in-denver/

The economic impact on Denver? According to Matt Cook, a former narcotics officer who oversees enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue, “it’s huge.”

Cook helped write the state’s medical marijuana law, and works as a consultant for medical marijuana businesses in the state. Speaking to “60 Minutes,” he said that the industry accounts for “over a million square feet of lease space in the Denver area.”

“Look at all the electrical contractors, HVAC contractors,” he said. “The number of ancillary businesses — it’s huge. Tax revenues exceeded, I believe the last number I heard was an excess of $20 million.”

While the state’s taxes on marijuana actually took in about $5 million during 2011, it certainly could spike as high or higher than Cook said: a recent study by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy found that legalized marijuana could pull in about $24 million in new revenue from an excise tax on marijuana production alone.

The report adds that state sales taxes on pot could generate up to $8.7 million more, with local governments seeing an additional $14.5 million just in the first year. Savings on enforcement and incarceration during that same period would also top more than $12 million, the group said.

[SomethingFishy]

37. You should see the political commercials in Colorado

for prop 64.. They have cops, lawyers, doctors all advocating legalization. Even far right-wing nutbag Tom Tancredo has come out in favor of legalization.

It's coming. Faster than people might think.

[B Calm]

12. It's not about what we want, it's what corporate

America wants!

[RainDog]

14. If states continue as they have

...and there is no reason to think they won't, considering that CA has consistently chosen to go with the will of the voters...

smart pols and corporations will recognize when it's time to switch teams.

Some say that's already happening.

...if your image of the drug trade involves armed gangs or young men in parked cars, these dealers offer a surreal counterpoint. There’s a finance veteran, two children of the Ivy League, multiple lawyers, and the son of a police chief. At their side is a Pulitzer Prize–winning communications consultant, two state lobbyists, and a nationally known political operative. And the guest of honor: a state senator who likes the look of those envelopes being stuffed.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/21/will-pot-barons-cash-in-on-legalization.html

States that are late to this will lose out. States that are early adopters will gain a lot of revenue.

[krawhitham]

13. But I voted 590 times

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. The other 41% were too stoned to complete the survey (nt)

[blazeKing]

24. 8 years ago

I thought legalization wouldn't come around until maybe 2030 or 2040...


The dominos of prohibition are falling, all we need is a few states and a President who will take action. Obama can do this, we have to pressure him in the second term. Romney? He will destroy the MMJ industry in MMJ states and crush all legalization measures. If you've seen clips of him answering questions about marijuana, he truly has a hatred for it. He has a hatred for anyone he sees as beneath him but especially marijuana users and MMJ users. The more we suffer, the more he grins.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

25. I am optimistic about America's social policies...

The nastiness coming from the extreme right is a last gasp.

We've come a long way from not being able to say pregnant on a TV show.

[liberal_at_heart]

26. It's only a matter of time

but if you're a patient waiting can be difficult.

[callous taoboy]

30. Weed kept my niece working in Denver

as a bud trimmer, and she doesn't even use marijuana.

[Uncle Joe]

32. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, RainDog.

[randome]

34. Why wasn't 'Decriminalized but not legalized' one of the options?

I think the number might have been higher for that. I think that's a more pragmatic goal, too.

[TeamPooka]

36. Prohibition is a failed public polcy...again nt