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Californians Still Want to Legalize Marijuana, Despite Prop 19 Results

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #658)
Drug War Issues

California voters rejected Proposition 19, the tax and regulate marijuana legalization initiative, by just under eight percentage points, but a post-election poll has found that they still favor legalizing pot. The poll also suggests that if youth turnout had equaled that in 2008, the campaign to free the weed would have ended in a dead heat.

According to the poll, which was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, 52% said marijuana prohibition does more harm than good. And 49% said marijuana should be legalized, with 41% opposed and 10% undecided.

"There’s a fair amount of latent support for legalization in California," said Anna Greenberg, the firm’s senior vice president. “It is our view, looking at this research, that if indeed legalization goes on ballot in 2012 in California, that it is poised to win."

So why didn't Prop 19 win? One quarter of those who opposed Prop 19 had considered voting yes and 31% of the no voters said they believed marijuana should be legalized or have penalties reduced, but objected to some aspect of the initiative.

The poll did not ask those respondents specifically what was wrong with the initiative. It would have legalized the possession of up to an ounce of weed for people 21 and older and it would have allowed them to grow up to 25 square feet and keep the resulting harvest. It would also have given cities and counties the ability to permit, tax, and regulate commercial marijuana sales and cultivation.

The poll did find, however, that Prop 19's provision making it difficult for employers to fire workers just for testing positive for marijuana may have hurt. Voters said by 50% to 44% that employers should have the right to fire workers who test positive even if they are not impaired.

This issue isn't going away.

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

Tirau (not verified)

Not only is it absolutely wrong to deny employment based on a test involving metabolites that have no impact on job performance, but without the abolition of testing, we will still have millions of people robbed of the chance to improve their lives and contribute to society based on myopic opposition to cannabis.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 3:59am Permalink
Anonymous444 (not verified)

What's the point? It's so stupidly ironic that you actually need a drug test to tell if your employee is using something. If it's not obvious, and you can't tell that he's impaired based on his productivity or performance, then what's the problem? Why don't they ever do random breathalyzer tests in jobs that don't endanger lives when someone is intoxicated (i.e. everything except for pilots, drivers, surgeons, etc.)? If someone gets fired for drinking on the job, then they were probably drunk enough to make it obvious.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 10:22am Permalink
common man (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous444 (not verified)

I've got news for you Doctors including Surgeons are NEVER drug tested,  They are the only ones in healthcare that aren't.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 1:43pm Permalink
common man (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous444 (not verified)

I've got news for you Doctors to include Surgeons are NEVER drug tested. They are the only ones in healthcare that are not.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 1:47pm Permalink
Eric (not verified)

People pay tax for tobacco, alcohol, gasoline, clothing, shelter, etc, and their income; in this kind of a world why should pot smokers get a free ride? Legalize marijuana and tax its' production, sales, and permit the cultivation for personal use. This would increase revenues for government and reduce expense for government in policing.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 1:18pm Permalink
Moonrider (not verified)

In reply to by Eric (not verified)

we should also be taxing rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley and basil (just a few of the herbs, like cannabis, which have some medicinal effects and uses); or carrots, apples and tomatoes (which are nutritional foods like cannabis), which we absolutely should not!  Taxing foods and medicines is just wrong!  I can see taxing the retail sale of cannabis for recreational and commercial (non-food/medical) uses.  This also applies to how regulation should be applied (make certain it's free of pesticides and adulterants and that it does what it claims to do, just like is already done with herbs, spices and foods), nothing more.

Sun, 11/07/2010 - 4:06am Permalink
Julian (not verified)

As much as I am against drug testing and allowing an employer to fire an employee for testing positive for metabolites, it doesn't matter. With the amount of cannabis consumers looking for jobs it will be the businesses that discriminate against them that will be harming themselves. Same thing on the reverse, if someone wants to fire you, whether it is for consuming cannabis or some other reason, they will find a way. If allowing businesses the right to screw themselves by discrimination is what it takes to legalize cannabis, I am fine with that because I know that inevitably businesses will stop discriminating when they can only hire drunks and/or puritans or suffer. Inevitably when national repeal happens it won't matter any way. Don't be too near sited in this endeavor. We need a state to legalize, tax and regulate to lead the way for the rest of the country. Compromise and Sacrifice for the greater good. I would rather legally be able to purchase cannabis and possibly get fired for it then not legally be able to and definitely get fired for it. Look at equal rights for woman and former slaves. No one was granted full equality from the get go. It took time and lots of small victories with even more compromise. Even on that front we are not there and drug laws are a big part of it. Small victories add up and before anyone realizes it we will have already won.

 

Thank You All For Fighting The Good Fight.

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 4:10pm Permalink
Annapurna1 (not verified)

what this shows is that outside polls might be unintentionally oversampling potheads.. whereas this is simply not possible in a poll that actually does count...

Mon, 11/08/2010 - 1:48pm Permalink
dAnonymous (not verified)

Barbara Boxer won by almost 700K extra votes during her race for Senator in CA..   Prop 19 lost by less than that many..     I did the math.. You're problem isn't with traditional conservatives.. It's with your own party - the liberal democrats..   For some reason they mysteriously disappeared right after they voted for your pay Boxer. If you don't believe it, do the math.  You will see the same thing everyone else sees..  There is a problem with the democratic party in CA.  And now they are have made it your problem as well. Good luck.

Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:04pm Permalink
dAnonymous (not verified)

Barbara Boxer won by almost 700K extra votes during her race for Senator in CA..   Prop 19 lost by less than that many..     I did the math.. You're problem isn't with traditional conservatives.. It's with your own party - the liberal democrats..   For some reason they mysteriously disappeared right after they voted for your pay Boxer. If you don't believe it, do the math.  You will see the same thing everyone else sees..  There is a problem with the democratic party in CA.  And now they are have made it your problem as well. Good luck.

Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:04pm Permalink
dAnonymous (not verified)

Barbara Boxer won by almost 700K extra votes during her race for Senator in CA.. Prop 19 lost by less than that many.. I did the math.. You're problem isn't with traditional conservatives.. It's with your own party - the liberal democrats.. For some reason they mysteriously disappeared right after they voted for your pay Boxer. If you don't believe it, do the math. You will see the same thing everyone else sees.. There is a problem with the democratic party in CA. And now they are have made it your problem as well. Good luck.
Tue, 11/23/2010 - 7:05pm Permalink

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