Half of Americans Support Legal Marijuana for First Time

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A plurality of Americans for the first time supports the legalization of marijuana, according to a new Gallup survey.
 
In the new poll, 50% said the use of marijuana should be made legal, while 46% oppose the idea.
 
Last year, support for legalization was at 46%.
 
Favorability towards legalizing the drug has been growing since the 1970s, particularly during the last two decades. In 1969, only 12% favored it, while 84% were opposed. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, support remained in the mid-20s. Then, in 2000, it passed 30%, and by 2009, it had jumped to 40%.
 
According to Gallup, support for legalization varies greatly according to age group. Although only 31% of those aged 65 or older are in favor of legalizing marijuana use, support rises to 56% for ages 30-49 and 62% for ages 18-29. Men are more likely to favor legalization than women (55% to 46%). Regionally, only in the South does support drop below 50%.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
 

Obama Escalates Attack on Legal Marijuana (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov) 

Comments

DonDig 13 years ago
prohibition of alcohol required an amendment to the constitution to be enacted, and another one to remove it: the prohibition of cannabis did not. could this mean that this whole cannabis prohibition has been carried off all these years with no legal federal authority whatsoever? could be. the doctors in the california medical association obviously realize that cannabis is non-toxic, unlike prohibition. beyond that, it has been proven to kill cancer cells in lab tests without harming the healthy cells present. http://www.gsalternative.com/2010/05/cannabinoids-kill-cancer/ dave triplett (rick simpson, and others) have used cannabis oil (topically) to cure melanoma as he shows in this short movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tghuh4ubbg please sign one or more of the white house petitions regarding the cannabis prohibition, go to this link: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petitions select the drop-down menu for ‘search’, (on the little gray banner), type in the word ‘cannabis’, and you can review and sign a number of petitions, (there are at least ten at this point), and hopefully these can help put an end to this wasteful and harmful prohibition. president obama could easily reschedule cannabis out of csa schedule 1 by executive order. the prohibition on cannabis has been far more costly than just the tax dollars and lives ruined by incarceration. people are dying for lack of a cancer cure, and one seems to be clearly within reach.
ConservativeChristian 13 years ago
jesus said to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. none of us would want our child thrown in jail with the sexual predators over marijuana. none of us would want to see an older family member’s home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants for their aches and pains. it’s time to stop putting our own family members in jail over marijuana. if ordinary americans could grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, it would be about as valuable as home-grown tomatoes. let's put the criminals out of business and get them out of our neighborhoods. let's let ordinary americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards. you can email your congressperson and senators at http://www.usa.gov/contact/elected.shtml to discuss hr 2306, the bill that would repeal federal prohibition. and a big thank you to the courageous, freedom loving legislators, governors, and countless others who are working so hard to bring this through! you’re doing a great patriotic service for all of america! here's one way that it is really working: arresting the criminals and collecting a fee from registered growers (and bringing in thousands of dollars to support the county budget); what a great plan! this is the way to build a better america! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/2011/07/the-pot-republic-one-sheriffs-quietly-radical-experiment.html
Bradley 13 years ago
america is where freedoms shall be gave, well we have any other right to have marijuana, over 1m people a year die of smoking cigarretes compared to marijuana = 0 you cannot die of marijuana i think its great for people who have disease, depression. go america!!!!
Australian 13 years ago
so america is supposed to be a democracy right? majority rules folks. public society needs to be educated to be taught to think for themselves and not succumb to the brainwashing media that is forcibly pushed down western societys collective throat on a daily basis.

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