Study: College Educated People are More Likely to Support Marijuana Legalization
Supporters of marijuana policy reform have long been viciously mischaracterized and stereotyped by our opposition. We are called druggies and losers. Our views are dismissed as unserious and irresponsible, fueled perhaps by excessive consumption of the drugs we want legalized. But according to Gallup Poll data, we are more likely to be college educated:
Americans with some college education -- from those who have attended at least one college course to those who have postgraduate degrees -- are somewhat more likely than those without a college degree to say marijuana should be legal in the country. Thirty-seven percent of adults with a college education support legalization, compared with 31% of those with no college education.
This makes perfect sense if one understands that opposition to the war on marijuana users emerges from a thousand perspectives: economics, public health, human rights, civil liberties, and on and on. Of course, one needn't attend college to recognize the absurdity of this massive war against otherwise law-abiding Americans, but it is important to dispel the notion that marijuana reformers are foolish or naïve. We are not. And we have degrees to prove it.
By contrast, there are many ways in which a lack of education may contribute to a belief that it is wise to criminalize vast portions of the population and attempt to uproot America's #1 cash crop. But let's not forget that the architects of the war on marijuana users are, themselves, very cunning and deliberate in their actions. They've been effective in stigmatizing their opposition as hacks and weirdos, while fostering a false belief among politicians that reform is political suicide.
The future of marijuana policy reform lies in breaking free from the stereotypes imposed on us by our oppressors and revealing our movement as the compassionate, intellectual brain trust that it has blossomed into. This may be inevitable, but in the meantime, let's all try to use proper spelling and punctuation in our blog comments (like the smart, serious people this Gallup Poll reveals us to be).
digg
redditStereotypes
Comment posted by Giordano on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 3:09pmStereotypes are indeed an effective tool when used by the drug enforcement ‘barbarians.’ Two can play that game, but it’s an inherently flawed tactic. There are always counter-examples to contend with.
For instance, I know a former graduate student who preferred studying while stoned on marijuana. While that might not work for everyone, here is an example of a person who smoked pot while successfully completing a master’s degree in mathematics with a 3.72 GPA out of a possible 4.00. He went on to retire as a multi-millionaire real estate investor.
Obviously, the person I described above is not someone the ONDCP would choose as its poster child for the evils of marijuana. And yet, with 100-million pot smokers in the U.S., millions of successful, productive marijuana users slip through the judicial radar on any given day with no one noting anything unusual.
Dysfunctionality, as it relates to marijuana, is largely a drug warrior myth that sees Cheech & Chong as a reality show. People who’ve smoked marijuana for 10, 20 or 30 years learn to counter certain effects to function quite well, regardless of their pot intake. Ultimately, a few tokes are no more debilitating than drinking a strong cup of green tea.
Giordano
manipulation
Comment posted by mlang52 on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 10:48amI think all results can be manipulated when it comes to research. It is one of the reasons that I did not finish my master's thesis. Statistics can be used to lie. (I think there is a book about that) The polls are not the end all to the truth, as many would think. They still can have a lot of error in them, before the evidence is manipulated, to the benefit of the study!
George Gallup, Jr.
Comment posted by Giordano on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 2:14amThe person who runs the Gallup polling business, George Gallup, Jr., is an evangelical relgious fundamentalist. His organization's polling on political and religious issues is always heavily skewed to the right.
Giordano
nothing?
Comment posted by mlang52 on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 10:42amWell, I guess college results depend on who the student is! Certainly, college does not make one an expert in the, medical, toxic, and social effects of drugs. Politicians are, most often, lawyers. And, you know what they call the guy who graduates bottom of the class... a lawyer! They have no training, at all, in medicine (except for malpractice), yet they "know it all". I agree that drugs are a social problem. The big thing is, we are making it worse instead of better with the failed "war on drugs" for the past thirty+ years! The politicians' decisions are, often, based on emotional responses and not sound, scientific doctrine.
Some get their information from "real" doctors. But, that does not mean they are in touch with reality, either. They think many medicines are wonderful. They ignore the fact the their "alternatives" are more expensive and sometimes not as effective as the medical MJ! Marinol $1,000/month. Zofran... thousands$$ a month for terminal cancer patients! How can these doctors live in reality when their $300 (immediate care) office visit is more than many people make in a week in this country! They don't know what it is to struggle to have food on the table!
No, college alone, does not mean a person would know the truth about drugs. What it does mean is someone had the initiative an gumption to complete it and get a degree! It means something to the many of us who did complete our education. It means absolutely nothing, so far as what really needs to be known about the "war on drugs". That is why I think it should be a medically regulated "problem".
Reason on the Defensive
Comment posted by Giordano on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 3:33amA naturally rational mind, a mind prone to reason, trained or untrained, understands that the drug laws are wrong.
University training enables a competent, rational person to defend reason against those who see reason as irrelevant, as an approach that is dangerous (usually to the Establishment).
Those who lie, cheat and steal have developed many tricks that require an alert familiarity to counter these mind scams. It is not what one thinks, but how one thinks. Logic and reason will smash the drug warriors every time.
Giordano
spelling and puntuation?
Comment posted by mlang52 on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 9:48amYOUR telling me that there are some people that don't know how to spell and punctuate! Discouraging those who don't, might actually be eliminating some, very intelligent people, from your blog! Some of us can't spell worth a tinkers DAMM! (even college educated people). Does not make us unwise, stupid, ....(you fill in the word), etc. Or, is it worse to offend someone over just a few, misplaced, apostrophe's and letters? Please Mr Morgan! I am still not offended enough (not offended at all!! just a sarcastic reply) to stop fighting this crazy drug war, with you ! Go get 'em, Tiger!!
I find it sad that the numbers are not a lot higher among the educated. What would it be just amongst MD's, DO"S, or RNP's? Medical people who really know the TRUE dangers. Especially, when comparing it to ALCOHOL!!
And I always try to remember.... Its just a blog! Most people would not care what one person, like me, has to say! It can be very self-cleansing, though!