Chronicle AM: Record Legalization Support, Fight to Stop Fentanyl Death Penalty, More... (10/19/16)

Two polls, one state-level and one national, augur good things for marijuana legalization, civil society mobilizes to defeat a federal fentanyl death penalty bill, Canadians consider where they're going to buy legal marijuana, and more.

New Gallup Poll Has Support for Marijuana Legalization Nationwide at All-Time High. A Gallup poll released Wednesday has support for marijuana legalization at 60%, the highest level ever recorded by Gallup. Support had hit 58% in 2013 and 2015 Gallup polls, but has now climbed another two points. Nearly 80% of voters under 35 support legalization, as do two-thirds (67%) of Democrats and 70% of independents. Even among Republicans, support has doubled in the past decade and now sits at 42%. In 1969, when Gallup first asked the question, support was only 12%.

Massachusetts Legalization Initiative Up By 15 Points in New Poll. A new WBUR poll has support for the Question 4 initiative at 55%, with only 40% opposed. The poll measured likely voters. Support is up five points over WBUR's September poll.

Medical Marijuana

Utah Governor Candidate Calls for Medical Marijuana Legalization After Wife Pleads Guilty. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Weinholtz called for the legalization of medical marijuana in the state Tuesday just hours after his wife pleaded guilty in state court to misdemeanor pot possession charges over marijuana found in their home. Donna Weinholtz used marijuana medicinally to relieve chronic pain, the couple said. "I, like many Utahns, made a deliberate and conscious decision to use cannabis knowing full well that it is against the law," she said. "I have faith the law will change."

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Civil Society Mobilizes Against Fentanyl Death Penalty Bill. Nearly 100 groups working on criminal justice reform, including NAACP, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and the Drug Policy Alliance Wednesday sent a letter to Representative Tom Reed (D-NY), opposing H.R. 6158, the HELP Act of 2016. The letter notes that "H.R. 6158 would also exacerbate the opioid epidemic our country is currently undergoing. The bill is out of step with the times, science, data, and public opinion and doubles down on 30 years of ineffective drug policy, and we ask that it be revised." The proposal would mean that individuals caught selling certain quantities of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced heroin would receive the death penalty or life without parole, if the sale is linked to an overdose fatality.

International

Poll Finds Canadians Split on Where Pot Should Be Sold. A new Insights West poll finds 36% of Canadians want pot sold in stand-alone stores, 29% want it sold in drug stores or pharmacies, and 16% think it should be sold in liquor stores. The federal government is expected to roll out a legalization bill early next year.

India MP Files Bill to Legalize Marijuana, Opium. MP Dr. Dharamvira Ghandi has filed a bill to legalize "traditional" and "non-synthetic" intoxicants. The bill would amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985, which he says has failed: "Thirty years down the line, where do we stand? The fact of the matter is that the NDPS Act has not only failed in achieving its professed goals, but this 'War on Drugs' has delivered results directly opposite to what it aimed to achieve. There can be no better verdict and/or evaluation of such punitive drug laws than frank admission statement of the United Nations Conference on 12th March, 2009, admitting that 'the war on drugs has failed'," he said.

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