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Quinnipiac Pollster Calls Marijuana Legalization "Just a Matter of Time"

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #762)

The third different poll in less than a week to report a majority favoring marijuana legalization was released Wednesday, with the pollster saying the results showed marijuana legalization was "just a matter of time." The Quinnipiac poll asked if "the use of marijuana should be made legal in the United States," and 51% said yes, while 44% were opposed and 5% undecided.

Including this one, four polls on marijuana legalization have appeared in the past week. Only one of them had support for legalization at less than 50% (and it was still a record high 47% for that poll, tieing opposition). The other two had legalization at 54% and 57%.

Legalization was supported by majorities of Democrats and independents (58% each), but not Republicans (31%). It was strongly supported by men (59%), but not women (44%). It was supported by younger voters (under 30, 67%; 30-to-44; 58%), but not older ones (45-to-64, 48%; over 65; 35%). Racially, support was strongest among blacks (57%), followed by whites (50%) and Hispanics (47%).

"With the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes legal in about 20 states, and Washington and Colorado voting this November to legalize the drug for recreational use, American voters seem to have a more favorable opinion about this once-dreaded drug," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "There are large differences on this question among the American people.

Then he dropped a bombshell.

"This is the first time Quinnipiac University asked this question in its national poll so there is no comparison from earlier years. It seems likely, however, that given the better than 2-1 majority among younger voters, legalization is just a matter of time."

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

CJ (not verified)

and then think how even better it will be when opiates are once again legal. i cant wait - i hope im not dead by then. seriously. 50-75-100-125-150 a bundie ? eh yeah the end of prohibition is gonna be sweet, 8-10$ tops i bet, no more homelessness, no more disease, no more crime, no more jail, no more problems......ahhhh.......how sweet it'll be.

Thu, 12/06/2012 - 5:54am Permalink
Celton Manx (not verified)

In reply to by CJ (not verified)

Have you read anything about Columbia recently? There's a plan to allow the city of Bogota to distribute opiates to users, or maybe just 'addicts'. Maybe you should be studying Spanish?

 In the meantime, have you ever tried selling your writing? You have a way with words. In particular one epic rant of yours on this site comes to mind. I wasn't the only one going whoah after reading it.

Thu, 12/06/2012 - 4:33pm Permalink
CJ (not verified)

In reply to by DevilDog2019 (not verified)

you guys are making me blush, i didnt know my cheeks could turn read anymore, i thought it was permadirt from all those nights sleeping on concrete and sidewalks, i owe you guys for showing me im still human! lol, but seriously, you email me too, let's be friends.

 

and while i never thought about the things you say, it is very flattering, i am very greatful and say lets keep reading stop the drug war, they're a bunch of lads with the heart in the right place, the videos about protecting yourself from cops are a real treat too, besides, dont you guys think maybe 99.9% of the time a pot elitist says "pot" or "marijuana" they really mean to say, "glorious off white blue 30 mg roxi berry babies" or 'sweet, heavenly china white refreshment" and the like? its fear. we're all animals, all our behaviors and feelings stem from love or fear, or both! :-)

Fri, 12/07/2012 - 11:46am Permalink
Jeff Brown (not verified)

Marijuana aka cannabis hemp is the most useful plant on the planet, Food, clothing, shelter, energy, medicine, insight, re-creation. Thanks to all who have helped awaken the people. It seems that the polls can only go up. We have the Silver tour for the older people. And yes Grandma should smoke pot. We just have to educate the Republicans.

Thu, 12/06/2012 - 2:27pm Permalink
saynotohypocrisy (not verified)

In reply to by Jeff Brown (not verified)

Did you catch the Scott Rasmussen commentary on this? He's considered a Republican oriented pollster. Besides polling, I think he makes his living speaking to Republican oriented groups. He really seems to be pushing Republicans to be aware of changing public opinion, and must be personally comfortable with the idea of legalization.

Nothing but good news in the last month for the most useful plant on the planet. Not a single idiot that I'm aware of fucking up catastrophically under the influence of the good herb.

Thu, 12/06/2012 - 4:58pm Permalink
sicntired (not verified)

The Angus REID POLL IN bc just took another read and we still sit at a solid 75% in favor of legalisation.Not medical,legal.Washington State was the big stick that was always waved in our faces.Looks like someone just took that stick and drove it right where Stephen Harper gets his ideas.

Fri, 12/07/2012 - 6:03am Permalink
sicntired (not verified)

It's so refreshing to hear from another brother who is having a lifetime affair with the poppy.I used to wax eloquent on the wonders of this truly life changing substance,which is also a plant and in it's original form,as natural as nature.I am sorry to say I toned it down after receiving very little positive feedback.You sound exactly like I did before I lost four vertebrae to a nasty virus,which was my own dumb fault.No hussle so no hop.Guess what?Being in chronic pain got me nowhere with the medical system.Methadone only.I am in hell.I am,however,looking forward to either a world epiphany or the cash to move to a source country.We live to dream.Or is that backwards?

Fri, 12/07/2012 - 6:14am Permalink
CJ (not verified)

In reply to by sicntired (not verified)

ahh man, listen dude i know how it is with the method1, listen i understand. Infact it reminds me of this time I was in line at a clinic, you know how it is, sometimes when you leave your baby and it feels so bad and your race is run, you find you've fought the law and the law won and at that point you can't make rookie mistakes, so you gotta go to the clinic, its like by the time those bastards slap the cuffs on you you gotta make that cognitive decision, maybe even before you figure out if you can post bail, after figuring out what you think your bails gonna be, you gotta realize, listen man, its game over, for now, but the time will come again and my veins are gonna pay for the hate i have for these pigs and these bastards throwing me away because i'd rather boot with my seat belt real tight and bang out than head to "o flannetys o'doyle's o'reilys mcmanigusangus' olde style saloon" so yeah you know i totally figure, listen, you gotta do what you gotta do, you can totally take care of yourself while your waiting for your court dates (if you post bail or if you find someone who has the hook up in the prison etc etc) but its when they stick you on probation or TASC or whatever but the most important thing to remember always about these bastards, is aside from the good advice they give at this site about handling yourself with cops, never forget folks never ever ever ever evvveerrr accept drug court - dont do it, do NOT do it! Trust me, no matter how sweet they try to make it sound to you, actually they'll try to make it sound EASY really, more so than sweet. But the thing is, accepting that is doing the DA a favor. Doing a favor to the person whose job it is to hurt you, hurt your life. Listen man I remember one court appearance I had, there was a no show, it was the assistant prosecutor actually. A young lad, looked fresh out of law school. A bit timid. I definitely think he fit the bill of typical loser in high school turned alcohol loving college kid later on (who def popped addies for tests and the state bar) the kid said to the judge that there was a no show, right? So they did the thing where they have a warrant out for the arrest. Listen, when this kid - when the judge said yes, issue the warrant, i swear to you this kid said "yes, sweet!" under his breath. I thought he was gonna jump on the table and do a Michael Jackson kick, moonwalk and crotch grab and then shout "OW!" he was so thrilled - I mean the ZEST he had knowing that he had just concluded a brief verbal exchange with the judge, an exchange that lead to a person, could be the sweest person in the world, now being an official target to be hunted by the authorities like the old school flick "the most dangerous game" or the academy award winning Ice Cube flick "surviving the game" (same deal.) it was seriously gross to witness it.

But you gotta gotta gotta dare them to do their job and convict you - while i do think alot of them are sick bastards and war criminals, they are still humans and at their core they'd rather not be working, seeing as i think universally we all know work sucks and we are, after all, the only animals that have found it necessary to create a monetary game out of existence, a points system where the points are printed on paper and whoever gets the most points wins - actually they get alot of attention, thats it, at the end of the game the person with the most points has the same thing happen to the persons with no points, that is, they f'n die. lol. Ya know? Anyhow, you gotta be like, you got me with 3 wopperoo's and some dirty works? ok prove it in court. they'll say, we got you with three "decks" (lol, decks?!! wtf, seriously? i can hear the click right now of my dealer hanging up on me the second i call a wop a deck. Anybody who calls a bund a deck deserves to get run. On principal.)  you can face capitol punishment, you really should take this deal and just go to drug court. Listen, instead of jail youll go to a rehab and halfway house, be master of your time, your meals, etc. except no, you wont. You'll be screwed. Halfways can throw you out cause you like eating bananas. They dont give a damn. Worse than that, you are constantly drug tested and in principle youll get violated and have to start the time over, or ultimately wind up doing the sentence and time you would've had to have done if youdve went to court and lost anyway. It's just the worst thing you can do. I've played the game, trust me, I may be ony 27 but ive been an opiate purveyor a long time, ive spent half my life fighting prohibition, as we know, when you fight prohibition, you learn alot of things. Who can forget the first time they were suckered into a intervention? aw the memories, eh? Well I've been to halfways in many states, its the same game everywhere. A few times I've roomed with folks on drug court.. It's always a horror story. One dude would've served his time double if he'd have went to court but instead he took drug court, kept getting violated, kept starting over, it got to the point the dude called up his attorney and said, screw it, put the felony on the record and let me out of this f'n place with time served. lol. seriously!

but you go to the clinic and you get on and when the probation is over you get off, its tough but its the best way i think... I mean, assuming its not a 3-4 year deal, like a 2 year deal theyll let you go after 1 maybe. Then its back to the races and youve probably saved up some money too! But my heart breaks for folks on the done, i mean, the ones who've been on it for 15-20 years. I could never imagine.... It's unimaginable. It's cruelty of the highest accord - you can't give up! Listen, dealers may give up on you, shoot, we already know, family gives up on you all the time, girlfriends, boyfriends, they can come and go but heroin will never ever give up on you and i wish junkies wouldn't give up on eachother (or run eachother, or not tell someone youve got an STD and then share needles, bleach your works!!) i know its hard man, come on, i know, well, i know saying that can piss people off too because they can say " you dont f'n know, your not in my shoes" even if youve had similar experiences. and I'm not saying that all people in methadone clinics are opiate lovers who just dont have guts and gave up, alot of prohibition related things lead one to that horrible place. But I've never seen anybody happy about it, like, I've never seen people standing in line, doing high fives, getting amped about done. "Yeah dude my counselor cleared me for another 40 mgs!! I'm going to 280 mgs now dude, hell yea!!!" no. I've never seen it. But maybe ive never been to the right clinics. somebody hook it up - but in particular, your story man, it made me think of this time in line this hefty black dude was huffing and puffing, out of breath he looked at me he said, "man I really need it today, I aint doing good at all." I thought dude must've been a naughty bear, skipped the weekend, did his best David Bowie and had it out with his little China White girl and so was in W/D's. I said "Really man? I hate this stuff man. I'm on a taper, I'm getting off, I only got on cause I got arrested but my conditional release and PO is over so thank God, I'm finally getting off." The dude looked at me and said, "what? No, man. I'm on this cause of my back!!" I'm thinking, what? Lame, pathetic, not-working, METHADOSE for your BACK? awww the poor baby! You know what it is - maybe for financial reasons, ponying up 30-65 $ a week for the dose is all he could do, OR you know, he just couldn't find a pain doctor with BALLS to HELP him. you know? And the latter IS difficult, wether your like me and have dyed hair piercings and tattoos or are a conservative looking blue collar worker who got hurt on the job. Sometimes it makes a difference but sometimes even if you were prime years Michael Jackson herself and walked into the pain mgmt dr's office in a string bikini it still wouldn't give them the guts to help you out. You know? But don't give up! They ARE out there and you do have pain and for my money freedom from pain is one of the few noble reasons worth living for anymore in these days where there is no longer a samurai class. We definitely are all brothers and sisters at arms (or rather, in arms, and in more ways then one and definitely meant in the less conventional way.)

Fri, 12/07/2012 - 12:30pm Permalink
Mary (not verified)

More and more people daily are realizing the benefits of decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana not only regarding the points I mentioned above, but because of the state of our economy and the much needed financial boost this would give each and every state.

Mon, 02/10/2014 - 4:15am Permalink

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