Support for Marijuana Legalization is Growing in America
A new CBS/NYT poll finds that 41% of Americans agree that marijuana use should be legalized. While legalization still fails to garner majority support, it’s clear that we’re headed in the right direction. Notice that only 27% supported legalization in 1979:
LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
SHOULD MARIJUANA USE BE LEGALIZED?
Like 30 years ago, a majority of Americans do not think the use of marijuana should be made legal, but the percentage that thinks it should be has grown. Now, 41% of Americans support legalizing marijuana use, compared to just 27% who felt that way in 1979.CBS/NYT CBS/NYT
Now /1979
Yes 41% 27%
No 52% 69%There is a huge generation gap on this issue. More adults under 45 (49%) approve of legalizing marijuana use than oppose (45%), while just 31% of adults over age 45 approve of it; six in 10 are opposed.
The generation gap is particularly encouraging, confirming a popular theory among reformers that if we simply wait not-so-patiently, we’ll eventually win when our opposition literally drops dead.
These numbers reveal that we’re well within striking distance of achieving majority support for legalization. Moreover, we’re comfortably within the range in which meaningful reform to our marijuana laws will produce significant and vocal approval from the public. If there was ever a time when our political climate was fatally non-receptive to this idea, we have moved beyond that.
Keep in mind that the 41% result was arrived at without any particular political context. That’s just the number of people who generally walk around believing that marijuana should be legal. It’s possible to build that number significantly when the question is framed around an actual policy proposal, such as in Massachusetts where 65% of voters supported decriminalization. Because our arguments are strong, we benefit from the debate.
Legalization initiatives were unsuccessful in Nevada and Colorado in 2004, but I’d like to think that in the current change-focused political climate, it’s quite possible that similar measures would be victorious. For one thing, the departure of drug czar John Walters means we’re unlikely to face the same vicious opposition we’ve become accustomed to, as I simply do not envision Obama’s White House undertaking a regional propaganda scare-tour the next time we try something big.
The fact is that we’re moving in exactly the right direction, though not nearly as fast as any of us would prefer. We must be patient, so long as our patience doesn’t take the form of inaction. We’re entering a period of remarkable political opportunity for our cause.
Been waiting for some decent poll numbers on weed for long time
Almost 40 years. From that perspective this is fairly awesome progress though the referendums in Nevada and Colorado in 2006 demonstrated there was this level of support in at least some states. I agree with Scott that this level of support nationwide suggests that the right initiative asking voters to legalize, regulate and tax commercial sale of marijuana might pass in one of those states or Oregon or maybe debt ridden, prohibition empowered gang ridden California? If necessary a sunset provision, i.e. a guaranteed revote before the change became permanent might be just the thing to make wavering voters take a chance, and put it over the top.
Marijuania Legalization -vs Random Drug Testing
I think marijuania shoul dbe legalized but I think we are a long way away from that happening. But what I would like ot see is Random drug testing of regular evryday working men & women. I don't even smoke pot anymore but am a supervisor and am losing good hard working men and women from random drug testing. I do not advocate smoking on the job just like I don't approve of drinking. But what a man or woman does on Saturday night isn't my business. We have goverment officals, judges, lawyers, bankers, doctors, that don't take randoms. But a man making $10 an hour is subject to testing whenever the company chooses. I would like to see that changed immediatly. These people are great workers and are being judged and terminated for no good reason. Police can't search your house without a warrant. But employers can search your body for no reason. It's unamerican.
cbs pot poll or is it poll pot
consfearacy
if cbs wants to do a pot poll, then it should do an internal poll of its own employees. this other poll crap is just that, crap.
why is this poll crap?
please explain
The point of democracy
Isn't the main doctrine of democracy is that EVERYONE has a voice? Everyone's opinion on how things should be run counts? Seems absurd that 40+% of folks think one way, and the powers that be say, no way, we're going to spend your money and enforce our laws no matter how many of you disagree with them. We don't care how it ruins the lives of the citizens of our country (i.e. you, your neighbors, or family).
Guess I'm a strong believer in states rights...especially when there is dissent with policies. Let people decide for themselves the best way to govern their area, if you don't like it, move to someplace that agrees with your values. Blanketting rules, especially those which are based on morality, just pisses people off...you can't get it right. Let people live the way they want to, let them live free!
New Hampshire is moving toward secession
http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-hampshire-hcr-6-demands-...
I emailed my state legislators suggesting they make a similar resolution.
If we cannot get the federal government to behave in a Constitutional manner then each state must wtihdraw its support for the federal government. It is the only bloodless method of carrying out our duty as American citizens as laid out in our Declaration of Independence. That duty being:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I'm pro-choice on EVERYTHING!
Victory by Attrition in 2030
Graphing the poll numbers from above for cannabis legalization, and extrapolating a straight line through the two points, gives 2030 as the year in which public opinion favoring legalization reaches 51-percent.
It’s encouraging to think it may all be over by 2030. Advantages already exist due to the steady erosion of the opposition via grim reaper. Ironically, some who oppose medical marijuana may also be sidelined before 2030 by medical conditions that marijuana is known to moderate, such as Alzheimer’s. However, twenty-one more years of the drug war, encompassing yet another generation of lives ruined or inextricably altered by a self-serving justice system, is simply not acceptable.
Growing public awareness of the need for drug law reform means it’s an excellent time to shift gears and accelerate the machinery of change. Many more prospects for legal reform will appear. There will be opportunities to join with and work along side of similarly oppressed groups of activists who confront the same opposition culture, and to come together to preserve local, national, and international freedoms from vile and useless drug laws and other forms of petty tyranny. With more work, victory can still be achieved well before 2030.
Giordano
I think we are about to see
I think we are about to see an explosion in acceptance as the truth gets out and it reaches critical mass. I haven't smoked in twenty years, but in the past month I've learned the whole story.
Obama is a hypocrite
Unfortunately, this new administration is very unlikely to CHANGE anything regarding pot laws (or enforcement). He smoked as a young man, supported (verbally) decriminalization early in his political career, and the latest response to the overwhelming support HIS OWN interactive website has shown for marijuana legalization is "President Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana." Right. Sure. Just like only Nixon could go to China, it will take a Republican to reform these laws. Like Ron Paul. He doesn't (and as far as I can tell, never has) smoke pot. He merely believes in our right to be free. The fact that Obama is a hypocrite is clear on many other issues, (like the exceptions to his lobbying rules, and the retention of rendition) but on this it particularly stings, cuz myabe you shared a bowl with the brother back in the, what, early eighties...it's like your friend becoming a cop, it's ugly and hypocritical and when I read that one statement, I lost ALL respect for the man. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
region makes a difference
41% is for the whole country. If you polled just the west coast and the northeast - the "blue" states - you'd see that number rise to over 50%.
There's just something about cold air that brings sense on this issue! In Quebec legalization polls at over 50%. I bet the same is true in New England, decrim just got 65% in Massachusetts.
We control the government, not the other way around.
The governments JOB, is to protect our nation from other nations, and stop us from harming other nations. If they must control those drugs, they should be limited to import/export enforcement, as internal trade is a state issue. If the state requires national assistance, they should offer it where it is justified.
Each state should determine what is allowable, and further, each county should ultimately decide what is enforced, acting in a similar way to a state/nation response. (Where justified, and only when asked for. Unless the state says NO, then NO = NO for the county. But if the state says OK, the county can still decide YES or NO, as the people see fit.)
Once the bush family is gone, and they have no more hands in the honey-pot... the laws will change faster. (Why do you think they keep coming back? The law was threatened to be changed, so his son was sent to solidify the protective wax-coating. This is not an oil-war, this is a drug-war. Green-gold, not black. He ensures the stocks stay high, by keeping it illegal and charging the government for use of his private military controlling forces.)
We're not going anywhere anytime soon
don't just wait for us to be dead! As a group, boomers are far healthier than their parents were at same age, so you've be waiting for a long time. Better yet, convince us. I'm part of the 0ver-50 group and I've been able to turn people's minds by dispelling the myths that have been circulating courtesy of the DARE program, such as marijuana is 65 times stronger than it was in the 70's. I also stress to people that it should be taxed and the revenue be directed toward drug and alcohol treatment programs for those who really need it. (Let's 'weed' out the average joes that don't use anything besides pot and maybe a little alcohol) . And remember most of those boomers were pot smokers themselves in a younger day. I grew up in the 70's and I can tell you that the majority of people in high school and college smoked at least occasionally, if nothing else as a "courtesy smoke" at parties when it was passed around so they wouldn't be considered uptight. Another myth is that if we legalize it, then EVERYBODY would be smoking. Well, no. Like cigarettes and alcohol, there will be those who won't because of health concerns, others that won't because they just don't like the taste or feel of it.
So rathert han just wait it out, convince us old farts. I sure as hell want to see it legalized before I croak.
Actually, I don't think it is the "boomers"
who are holding up the legalization process, it's the even older generation, the parents of the "boomers". I'm right in between (age 64), some consider those my age to be "boomers" and some put us in another separate category. I think most "boomers" would (do?) support legalization having experienced/watched the whole flower power/free love thing and the open and prolific use of various drugs, first hand.
My friends, regardless of age (some are older some younger and some the same age) either smoke pot or are tolerant of pot smoking by others. Many of them have dabbled to a greater or lesser extent with other drugs (Acid/mushrooms, are, by far, the most popular, after pot), a few of them are dealing with addiction (coke & alcohol, for the most part, but there are a couple who were addicted to prescription drugs -- Valium and Oxycontin -- and one who was into meth but got out before destroying her life completely). Except for the ones dealiang with addiction issues they all drink, most of them responsibly, and most of them no longer dabble in anything but pot and psychedelics, but here are a few who do.
One friend who never went beyond pot in the illicit drug category, but who sometimes overdoes the alcohol a bit, has a daughter who is strung out on meth. But ALL of them, each and everyone of them supports the end of Prohibition 2.0.
I recently was able to have a positive influence on the opinon of a fence sitter, a person I do not know in real life, but a friend in the online game World of Warcraft (I think the vast majority of players, at least in my realm, either tolerate or openly support the idea of legalization of marijuana, but others drugs are the sticking point for some of them) I was in chat with her and I don't recall how we got on the subject but by the end of the chat she was more open to the idea of complete legalization of all drugs.
It really is my parent's generation that is still holding on to their hidebound opinions about the "dangers of drugs". My parents have already left this mortal plane, they tolerated my use of cannabis and would have supported its legalization. I didn't begin to smoke it until I was 25, married (since age 18, still married to same guy), and had already had my three children. But they would not have supported legalization of any other drugs. They leaned libertarian but never to the extent my brother and I have, the two of us are full on libertarians. We are both pro-choice on EVERYTHING!
amazing
Could not have said it any better my damn self. My mtoher and father are over 50 and are in the same boat, they still smoke regularly and wish to see it legalized before they die as well.
I'M 72 AND I KNOW PEOPLE
I'M 72 AND I KNOW PEOPLE OLDER THAN ME WHO INDULGE IN CANABIS..MY MOTHER IS 104 THIS YEAR AND SHE NEVER SMOKED OR DRANK IN HER LIFE BUT CAMPAIGNED THE BEST SHE COULD IN MICHIGAN FOR LEGALIZATION. SHE KNOWS IT HELPED ME WITH MY ORDEAL WITH BREAST CANCER AND SHE KNOWS FIRST HAND THAT IT HAS HELPED OTHERS... SHE FEELS AS I DO.....YOU DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO... I THINK MORE PEOPLE WOULD COME OUT OF THEIR CLOSET (WHICH IS PROBABLY PERMEATED WITH A SWEET SCENT OF SMOKE) IF THEY WERE NOT SO CONCERNED WITH WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY...I AM PRESENTLY TRYING TO GET A GROUP OF MENTALY SOUND OLDIES TO HELP PROMOTE THIS MOST NEEDED REFORM OF OUR FAILED DRUG LAWS... MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS A NEED..MAYBE IT WON'T WORK FOR EVERYONE BUT AT LEAST THEY HAVE A CHOICE.IF IT WERE LEGALIZED FOR EVERYONE IT MIGHT BE OF HELP WITH TAX DOLLARS THAT ARE NOW SO BADLY NEEDED... MONEY COULD GO FOR CANCER RESEARCH, AIDS RESEARCH OR EDUCATION IN GENERAL... THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS. IT WOULD REMOVE THE CRIMINAL SOMETIMES DANGEROUS ELEMENT. IT WOULD ALLOW OUR LOCAL POLICE FORCE TO CONCENTRATE ON SERIOUS CRIME AND LEAVE THE FEDS TO CONCENTRATE ON TERRORISM...IT WOULD GIVE THE CONSUMER A BETTER SAFER PRODUCT....ITS ALL ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE......WHEN EVER SOMEONE MENTIONS "THE CHILDREN"...WELL! WHAT ABOUT THEM.. THEY HAVE BETTER CONNECTIONS THAN MOST ADULTS..THEY MANAGE TO GET ALCOHOL AND CIGARETTES WHEN IT CLEARLY VIOLATES THE LAW GOVERNING THEIR AGE TO BE ABLE TO PURCHASE. THROUGH OUT THE YEARS I HAVE WITNESSED, READ ABOUT AND HEARD ABOUT MORE DISASTERS AS A RESULT OF OVER INDULGENCE IN ALCOHOL THAN IN ANYONE SMOKING A "JOINT". IN REFERENCE TO ELDERLY PEOPLE NOT WANTING TO LEGALIZE IT.. I DON'T THINK THEY ARE THE MAIN CULPRIT IN THIS FIGHT... WHILE CAMPAIGNING FOR OUR NEW PRESIDENT I BECAME AWARE OF THE FAR RIGHT EVANGELICALS WHO I BELIEVE ARE THE ONES THAT USE THEIR INFLUENCE TO KEEP THESE ARCHAIC LAWS ON THE BOOKS AND PROMOTE ALL THE NEGATIVE MYTHS RE MARIJUANA...THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING AND THE TIME IS NOW FOR LEGALIZING, AT LEAST FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES....WE NEED TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL EVEN IF ITS ONLY ONE PERSON AT A TIME....ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE ITS THE RIGHT THING TO DO CAN BEGIN THIS MOMENT TELLING ANYONE THEY COME IN CONTACT WITH THE POSITIVE RESULTS THAT WILL BE PRODUCED IF MARIJUANA IS LEGALIZED..
Evangelicals?
Although you might be right, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, grandma! There are plenty of Christians and conservatives who view this as a disgrace! Don't generalize. It can be divisive. Alcohol elitists can come down on "potheads" even more severely than the evangelicals (at least evangelicals don't drink, do they?). No matter what, I would never let anyone insult me enough to stop fighting this insane behavior towards cannabis. It is much less toxic than alcohol.
And kids can buy it easier at school than they can get booze or cigarettes. So, the cry "for the kids" is plain stupid. If they were, truly concerned about kids, they would figure out how to get it out of the schools. But, since they still can get drugs in prison, I would, dare, say that the present system would not do it. At least, if the drugs were regulated like alcohol, the kids would not be able to get them as easily.
I happen to believe that THC is much less toxic as compared to alcohol. It is crazy to keep fighting against its legalization. That is, if the people arguing have any common sense! It has more to do with not taking money away from private prisons, LE and politicians than anything else!
The gateway drug argument keeps coming up. I think that there are, too many, parents, out there, who don't want to admit that the first illegal drug their kids abuse they get at home, out of the liquor cabinet! Alcohol is the gateway drug!
I am glad to see you speaking up! older people need to know the entire thing is not working! Keep up the good work! All this crap over a plant the grows out of the ground!
Been waiting
since 1976 for it to be legalized. That's the year I smoked my first bowl and the same year I planted my first seeds and grew my first crop of sensi. Been waiting a long time.
why not?
I'm sure everyone knows most of the facts already, but why not legalize marijuana? there is so much we could do with it if it were legal besides just smoke it. Hemp seeds can be crushed and processed into fuels (non toxic at that) that we can run our cars off of! Hellooo help for global warming! Also, these cars themselves, yeah they can be made out of hemp, the very first car, the model T was made out of hemp! If the US were to legalize, produce, harvest, tax and regulate marijuana, there would be so many positive effects from it. ie: Out of debt(in no time), MILLIONS of jobs, the economy would be BOOMING, global warming would subside. If we used hemp as much as we do oil, there would be no wars. They say we never lost a war, but where is the war on drugs going? absolutely nowhere!!!! just like the war in Iraq, which i am not a fan of either, but thats another opinion. But seriously, our governments going to give out the most toxic drugs out there, slap a label on it, call it legal and sit back and watch millions of people die? oh come on now, that sounds like a great government! let me just slap a sticker on my forehead that says "stupid." Below is GOVERNMENT statistics from 2000.
ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS
TOBACCO ........................ 400,000
ALCOHOL ........................ 100,000
ALL LEGAL DRUGS .............20,000
ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ..........15,000
CAFFEINE .........................2,000
ASPIRIN ...........................500
MARIJUANA ...................... 0
----------------------------------------
Source: United States government...
National Institute on Drug Abuse,
Bureau of Mortality Statistics
Alcohol, tobacco, legal drugs, caffeine, asprine, all accessible, legal drugs... caused more deaths that illegal drugs all together! The government is feeding us pill after pill, i dont know how many times my doctors have tried to perscribe me pills for pain, and i say no thank you & go home and take a toke. Come on now, I'm glad to see the numbers rising, but something is not right about all this. Marijuana: the HARMLESS medical substitution for THOUSANDS of perscription drugs, and yet, they'd rather feed us beer and heroine/methamphetamine based prescriptions.
legalize it
you should just legalize it because its already going aroud the towns of NH and the world people smoke ever day i do smoke sometimes butt it is legal for medical use it should be for smokeing because people are geting arrested everyday for it and its taking up room in jails and its not bad but it takes space up in jails when killers should be taking that space not someone who smokes weed it was put on this earth for a reason god wants it here so thats the just legalize it and weed crimes will go down
its better than smokeing ciggarets
make weed them new cigarets
arthur
i am a arthritis sufferer and the chemicals that are prescribed to me are nearly worthless to me, that is if i want to be in a coherent state...the chemicals make me feel like crap or knock me out...weed is the best drug that i have found that will lessen the pain and it lubes the joints for free movement...if legalized the government could make over 3.9 billion in tax revenue a year and spend less on drug enforcement...this isn't rocket science people!
legalization of marijuana
marijuana is dum so dont legalize it
legalization of marijuana
marijuana hurts our bodies so why should we take it and if u want more people to hurt themselves then legalize it if u dont then dont legalize it
marijuana
how many of u like it i know i dont lets not die today lol lets not die by using marijuana
Imagine what the support
Imagine what the support numbers would look like if the older people (and younger) would have been given the actual facts and truths of both Hemp and 'Marijuana'
it's outrageous to think about it. the ones that oppose legalization are the ones that have been blinded by the lies. why is cannabis easier to obtain than alcohol for minors? does that make sense? YES- a product that is not regulated or commercialized is easier to get than a product that is regulated and has an I.D. check to purchase... weird, isn't it?
Army of One
Everything I've read and everything i've learnd in this blog sickins me. Now hold on before you get upset and let me explain. Its true, all these facts and figs., but the only way anythings going to get better on the fight to legalize the plant God gave us is if everyone who has read this blog and maybe had there eyes open to sensi ban together as one. isn't that the armys saying. Army of one! lets be one and snuff this age old soga. basiclly tell everyone young and old how great that beautifull plant is. thats your right. freedom of speech, and nothing can ever take that away. So who controls you? Do you??? speak up and stop being pushovers like everyone else in this great and powerful nation. It shouldn't take a youg guy like me seeing the light our fourfathers saw over even the oldest foces alive still. BE HEARD!!!
yes mann truth,love and
yes mann truth,love and unity is what we need for legalization to happen. If everyone in the world would slow down a little and open there eyes we could make a diffrence. And eachone of us can make a diffrence if we would learn to practice what we preach. No one man is better than the other. And the declairation of independence was wrote on hemp,first deisel motor ran on hemp seed oil.One acre of hemp/marijuana trees can produce four times as much paper as the trees we use today not to mention clothes,medicine,fuel,homes,cars, virtually everything can be made from hemp/marijuana. SO THE REAL QUESTION IS CAN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY THERES?
one heart
one mind
one destiny
one people
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