A poll released this week suggests backers of California marijuana legalization initiatives have their work cut out for them.

In an historic hearing Wednesday, the California legislature examined the pros and cons of marijuana legalization.

Only 14.6% of Chileans support marijuana legalization, down from 19% five months ago, according to a newly released

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According to the most recent Gallup poll, 44% of Americans favor legalizing ma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                               
OCTOBER 22, 2009

Poll: L.A. Voters Oppose Plan to Close Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Mason-Dixon Finds Only 14% Back District Attorney; 77% Want Dispensaries Regulated

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications …………… 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

LOS ANGELES — A new poll of Los Angeles County voters reports massive opposition to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley’s announced plan for a wholesale shutdown of medical marijuana dispensaries, with only 14 percent backing Cooley’s effort. After Cooley made his statement, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich proposed an ordinance that would effectively shut down all dispensaries in the city.

         The survey of 625 randomly chosen L.A. County voters was conducted Oct. 19 and 20 by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

            Asked whether they support or oppose California’s medical marijuana law, including patients’ ability to buy their medical marijuana, 74 percent said they favor it, with 16 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided. Following that question, voters were asked about Cooley’s assertion that all medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are illegal and should be closed. Asked, “Which of one these two alternatives come closest to your view: Prosecute or close all medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles County, or create and enforce uniform licensing requirements and regulations for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries within Los Angeles County,” 77 percent supported regulation, with only 14 percent backing a large-scale shutdown.

            Support for regulating the dispensaries crossed all demographic groups, including a 62 to 30 percent margin among Republicans.

            In a third question, 54 percent of county voters supported “making marijuana legal for adults who are 21 or older, and regulating and taxing marijuana similarly to alcohol,” with 33 percent opposed. Full results of the poll are available at http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/general/MPP-LA-County-10-09-Poll.pdf 

            “It’s clear that voters utterly reject calls for a wholesale shutdown of medical marijuana collectives and overwhelmingly support sensible regulation,” said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Angelenos support patients’ right to obtain medical marijuana, and want them to do it through safe, regulated businesses and not force them to turn to street dealers, as Cooley and Trutanich would do.”

         With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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Software developers study anti-patterns. The practice can be applied to advocating social change, i.e. fighting the drug war.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) kicked off a TV ad campaign aimed at gaining support for a California marijuana legalization bill in the legislatu

An independent candidate in Chile's December presidential election has raised the topic of marijuana legalization, but according to a new

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Talk about marijuana legalization is at a level never seen before this year, and nowhere is that more strongly the case than in California.

According to a newly released poll, more than one-quarter of the population believes that incarcer

According to the polling organization Rasmussen Reports, 41% of l

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal interview with new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is generating discussion due to Kerlikowske's statement that we must move beyond the "war on drugs" analogy. But Gary Fields's piece also included a dubious assumption that shouldn’t escape notice:

Mr. Kerlikowske's comments are a signal that the Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate -- and likely more controversial -- stance on the nation's drug problems. Prior administrations talked about pushing treatment and reducing demand while continuing to focus primarily on a tough criminal-justice approach.

This is controversial? There is no evidence of that. In fact, everywhere you look, you'll see a changing political climate with regards to drug policy:

1. Obama made repeated statements in favor of various drug policy reforms on the campaign trail, including support for medical marijuana, treatment over incarceration, needle exchange, and fixing the crack/cocaine sentencing disparity. In a hard-fought campaign, these were among his least controversial positions.

2. Support for legalizing marijuana is surging in America, currently polling as high as 52%. Since taking office, Obama's biggest controversy with regards to drug policy was his statement in opposition to legalizing marijuana.

3. A recent Zogby poll found that 76% of Americans believe the war on drugs has failed. This view was held by a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

The idea that there's anything controversial about moving towards a more moderate drug policy is just false on its face. The opposite is true. Americans are tired of the "tough criminal justice approach" and they elected a president who said he'd bring a new perspective to this issue.

If anything, it would have made more sense to say these policy shifts will most likely make our drug policy less controversial. Certainly, that's what Kerlikowske expects by making these conciliatory remarks. He's pandering to the growing public sentiment that the drug war is getting out of hand. Seriously, why on earth would anyone expect controversy over this? To the contrary, people find it reassuring, which is exactly why the White House is framing it this way. I thought that was obvious.

Thus, with this one seemingly harmless quip, "likely more controversial," the WSJ ends up missing the entire point of the story and utterly misdiagnosing what Kerlikowske represents. Public attitudes about the war on drugs are changing, thereby forcing our political leadership to begin implementing certain popular reforms while generally reframing the entire issue.

Any questions?

An Angus Reid Strategies poll of British Columbia adults released Monday has found that 65

Support for marijuana legalization or decriminalization among the American public continues to climb and may now be a majority position, if a pair of recently released polls are any indication.

Sometime in the last few months, the notion of legalizing marijuana crossed an invisible threshold.

Over the past three decades, 4/20 has crept -- and then leapt -- into the public consciousness as the unofficial National Marijuana Day.

An EMC Research poll commissioned by Oaksterdam University and conducted between March 16 and 21 has found that Calif

California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) told a press conference in his home town Monday he had introduced a bill that would create a system of taxed and regulated legal marijuana sales

The reverberations from the Michael Phelps bong photo continue.

Support for taxing and regulating marijuana has climbed above 50% on the West Coast, according to a national poll of 1,053 registered voters.