Record number of Californians support marijuana legalization

February 28, 2013

A California poll released Wednesday revealed that 54 percent of voters now support legalizing marijuana, representing the highest total in the poll’s 44-year history. [Mercury News]

The Field Poll conducted by Field Research Corporation asked registered California voters whether they would support legal sales of marijuana, so long as the state places restrictions on age and driving under the influence and licenses those who sell.

Forty-three percent of the voters polled did not support marijuana legalization. The 54 percent approval of legalization is a 41 percent rise from 1969, the year of Woodstock.

“Now we’re getting to the point where baby boomers have lived with this stuff for most of their lives,” said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.

In addition to asking voters about legalization, the Field Poll also compiled data on Californians’ support for medical marijuana. Seventy-two percent of voters polled said they support the state’s existing medical marijuana law and 58 percent said they support allowing dispensaries in their own community.

Two-thirds of those polled said they oppose the Obama Administration’s raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. The administration conducted nearly 200 raids on dispensaries in President Obama’s first term, the majority of which occurred in California. Obama, who criticized President George W. Bush for raiding dispensaries, is on pace to exceed Bush’s total of busts.

Colorado and Washington state voters each legalized marijuana in November. Two years prior, California voters rejected Proposition 19, a measure to legalize marijuana, by a 7 percent margin.