Poll: 1 in 4 Americans would light up a fat one if they could legally

[marmar]

Legalizing marijuana would more than double the potential market for the drug, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.

Results show that 26 percent of Americans say they would buy marijuana at least on rare occasions if it was legal in their state, compared to 9 percent who said they buy it at least on rare occasions now. The percentage who said they would buy marijuana often, jumped from 1 percent who do so now to 4 percent who would buy if it was legal.

When asked about their buying frequency, 18 percent of respondents said they would buy marijuana more often than they do now if it was legal. That includes 16 percent who said they never buy marijuana now but would, at least on rare occasions, if it was legal to do so.

Respondents under age 30 were most likely to say both that they would buy marijuana if it was legal (35 percent) and that they do so now (16 percent). But even among those 65 and older -- almost none of whom said they ever buy marijuana now -- 9 percent said they would buy it at least occasionally if it was legal. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/pot-poll_n_4179029.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037&ir=Politics

[NYC_SKP]

1. What I want is for teabaggers and republicans to begin smoking regularly.

Most of the rest of us are already pretty mellow.

[KoKo]

2. Former Smokers or Wannabe Smokers?

I've never had any interest in it...and would wonder about stoned kids. But...whatever. There sure is a vocal group who wants it legalized for ordinary use. I can understand the Medical use...but, worry about it being the new cigarettes.

[jeff47]

7. Better stoned kids than drunk kids.

Yet we're not all that eager to get back to Prohibition.

[NoOneMan]

10. That'd be cool if it was the "new cigarettes"

The old ones put you in a pine box from cancer and hearth disease. Plus they are damn addictive.

[Scuba]

3. In Colorado, legalization got 50,000 more votes than did Barack Obama.

[Coyotl]

9. Another reason the Republicans are unpopular.

At least the Dems are getting in line with the coming transformation of the laws.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Marijuana prohibition makes the government look stupid to most people, the cost in respect

for the government is vast. Do Americans distrust the government? Sure, everyone distrusts those who profess foolish ideas and nonsense.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly! It's among others of some of the most stupid block headed brain dead things the US has

done in the name of whatever. People make big $$$$$'s off marijuana prohibition while millions suffer and crime goes off the scale. Yet another WTF.

[RKP5637]

5. And, IMO, those interested in the possibilities would surely increase, certainly a

better experience than the ravishing effects of alcohol and other crap. ... light-up a Bud Light!

[pipi_k]

8. I wouldn't myself, but

have no problem with anybody else doing it if they want to.

It's a hell of a lot better than seeing them chug back the booze, IMO.

[B Calm]

11. Think I'll go light one up!

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

A more interesting question is what marijuana legalization will do to alcohol consumption, which by all accounts is more harmful than marijuana consumption. Will marijuana be a substitute or a complement? The evidence is mixed.

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. "California Study Suggests Marijuana a Substitute for Alcohol"

California Study Suggests Marijuana a Substitute for Alcohol

Post to: Twitter Digg StumbleUpon Reddit by David Borden, October 30, 2013, 01:50pm

http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2013/oct/30/california_study_suggests_mariju

Posted in: AcademicsAlcoholMarijuana

A New York Times article this week, Few Problems With Cannabis for California, reports that a pending study in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management by Mark Anderson and Daniel Reese has found increased marijuana use to be a substitute for alcohol use in California:

Based on existing empirical evidence, we expect that the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington will lead to increased marijuana consumption coupled with decreased alcohol consumption. As a consequence, these states will experience a reduction in the social harms resulting from alcohol use.

The article discusses alcohol's relationship to traffic fatalities and violent crime, including domestic abuse, predicting that marijuana legalization will reduce those problems, with youth use of marijuana remaining stable.
The substitution question has been raised repeatedly at academic fora on marijuana legalization since the Colorado and Washington initiatives passed last year. In our movement we have tended to assume that they are substitutes, but not all academics are sure. At a one-day conference held by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, at their Washington office, one of the guest presenters said the evidence they've seen "clearly" indicates that marijuana is a complement for alcohol use, e.g. increased availability of marijuana could have the effect of increasing alcohol use and is at least correlated with it. Another one of the guest presenters immediate chimed in to say that the evidence his team has seen "clearly" indicates that marijuana and alcohol are substitutes.
DPRC co-director Beau Kilmer often notes that a change in the amount of alcohol use, up or down, could dwarf any increase in marijuana use in terms of its public health ramifications, because alcohol is more harmful than marijuana. But he's cited evidence pointing in both directions, sometimes in different directions for different groups of people. Hopefully the JPAM study's findings will be born out by further research.
Ellen Komp
Deputy Director
California NORML
www.CaNORML.org

[Iggo]

14. Not me.

I'd smoke pinners.

[mike_c]

15. I'm gonna light one in about half an hour....

Why am I still at the office?

[Logical]

16. Never used pot but looking forward to trying it. When legal I will. n-t

[Packerowner740]

17. I don't drink or smoke anything but I really see no difference in alcohol or pot

And therefore see no problem with pot being legal if alcohol is legal.

[aikoaiko]

18. True for me. I stopped smoking pot at 16 because of the penalties.

I'd happily spark one up if it were legal.

[MadrasT]

19. OK. I wouldn't light one up if it was legal and you paid me to smoke it.

Can't stand that shit and I can't stand to be around people who are getting high. They act fucking stupid as hell.

[Hekate]

20. I'd grow a plant in a sunny corner of my yard if it was legal, and figure out how...

... to use the herb aside from smoking. I have fibromyalgia, among other things, and think it would help.

The one time I tried smoking it at a friend's urging, it activated my asthma and gave me a hangover, so imo it is hardly worth the legal risk for me. OTOH, my friend has arthritis and it helps her get a good night's sleep.

My next door neighbor tells his men's Bible study group that marijuana is one of the healing herbs growing upon the Earth and given to humankind by God for our use. He has crippling migraines, and it really helps him.

Prohibition of liquor did nothing but turn the Mafia into a mega-business and a lot of ordinary people into lawbreakers. Ending Prohibition didn't end the Mafia, but it certainly took regular law-abiding citizens out of their reach.

I've long believed that pot should be handled like alcohol, which is regulated and taxed, and can be legally brewed at home without licenses or taxes up to a certain fairly generous amount.

I can hardly wait for the end of the War on Drugs....