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Record number of Californians support marijuana legalization

February 28, 2013

mariA 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.

 


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This is really bad. If everyone is stoned on the couch eating Doritos, there won’t be anyone to drink all the fine wines produced in this county.


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Here’s the real deal. Our country was founded upon the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Do you enjoy drinking wine? That’s fine, so long as you don’t drink and drive your car into mine. Do you enjoy marijuana? I’ve no problem with that under the same rule. If you wish to characterize everyone who enjoys marijuana as being stoned, on a couch, eating doritos…..it’s analagous to concluding everyone who drinks as being on a bowling team, pounding 12 oz of beer and hurling bowling balls. Have I made my point or do you recognize that you’re being stupid? Sadly, we’ve lost our ability to recognize that people pursing happiness, is not, in itself, a crime. I’m not expecting that to change in the near future, but don’t fool yourself about how our forefather’s dealt with it….not like today by any means. Of course, in California, ny reasonable adjustment to our laws would reduce one of our major sources of income…..putting our children in prison. Don’t kid yourself.


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Let me see…..Hmmmmmmm bring home an Aircraft Carrier or bust some Marijuana Dispensaries. Pot is not good for you but when the nation is broke I think we can place it at the bottom of the list…


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GO AHEAD all you fr——– pot heads legalize, I grew up in the flower child days , I have friends that did smoke all the time , , im 70 years young , and i invite all you pot smokin stoners to try and keep up with me on a 10 mile run , don,t tell me it has no effect , your foolin yourself, I have friends that smoked the stuff when we were growing up in the HAIGHT, the only thing they can do now is grow vegetables, thats the ones that are still above ground .good luck to you all.


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What about your friends who were alcholics back then? Are any of them still alive?


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Think of a better argument. With current technology and expanded availability, you no longer need to clog your lungs with smoke.


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I agree that pot isn’t good for you mentally or physically in most cases. (Some medical uses are truly justifiable.) But that is a drawback of a free society — we are free to make stupid choices and suffer the consequences. And, other than perhaps contributing to the number of people “needing” public assistance, pot smokers do not seem to be more prone to causing social problems than any other group and probably less so than those who drink alcohol.


One big thing about the war on drugs (all of them, not just pot) is that the whole concept has too many flaws and is too ineffective in achieving its stated goals. Enforcement of draconian proportions should be a last resort (at most) and only used after a good treatment program has failed an individual. There are few good treatment programs and almost all are out of the price range of most offenders. Even for those with moderate financial means, the wait to get in is so long as to make success more difficult.


The other big thing about the war on drugs is that it has been used to justify encroachments on the Fourth Amendment (and others to a lesser degree.) The militarization of police and their increasing segregation from society is also a danger evolving out of this stupid “War.”


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Would the legalization add to the problem of obesity?


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I listened to a news report on this poll this morning. Approximately 150 were polled, focused on areas in the State with high hispanic poplulations: 40% from Los Angeles, second was Fresno, followed by San Francisco, and then Sacramento. And this poll is suppose to represent legal voting Californians.


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Looks like the news you listen to is inaccurate. I looked up the poll data myself. 834 registered voters were polled – looks like the poll does represent legally voting Californians after all, though i could not find info on their urban/rural distrubutions – but obviously, most californians live in urban areas. And what is the hispanic reference – what does that have to do with regard to pot legalization?


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Of course this is true, the same folks approved prop 30 without even knowing where the $ would go. The dope helps to forget where they live and how they pay no taxes for services


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This debate over the legalization of Marijuana is laughable, that is until you finish the pizza. If established Americans want to get loaded, let them. The immigrants will take their work, prosper and when they become the leadership, less welfare for all. Too bad so sad for those who gave up on themselves, the fat and lazy won’t live long anyway.


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Jorge, Unfortunately you confuse “mellow”, “easy going” and “passive” with lazy. I have known many daily MJ smokers. The majority are hard working and middle to upper crust Americans. They’re thinkers, creators and mostly geeks although there are a few construction workers in there who only smoke after hours. NO I don’t smoke but there is nothing wrong with those who do in my opinion. My observations have concluded that it is the equivalent of relaxing with a cocktail but it doesn’t make one drunk or confrontational or emotional or violent.


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Tell that to your surgeon or nurses following lunch before your surgery. I would have no problem with the scenario you present if there was a test similar to a alcohol test so it would be illegal during working hours. At home, on your time, no problem. Not during work hours and specifically in dangerous occupations (medical, public safety, construction, driving, etc..) I have never smoked (eaten or inhaled, etc,) but have been around it and it does IMO affect one’s behavior.


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Cindy, there are exceptions to every rule and I too know several but the hard truth, just like the conversation you may have had with your insurance company, success is determined on past results (actuaries). This is how they stay in business as do most others.


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Lets get it on the ballot again. It’s about time that people come to their senses. Now this will free up LE to tackle real drugs i.e. METH


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Cindy,


Uh, damn it, i am going to have to agree with you. Therefore, expect great thunder and lightening from the East for doing so, biblically speaking, that is.


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Yes METH is a serious evil and shorter life span. If legalized they’d tweek into extincsion and sadly many of our children.


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It would be a harsh experience to start but maybe quicker and more public deaths of tweakers would be a better deterrent in the long run than the threat of jail or declarations of dire consequences by people with a history of hypocrisy.


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Stop the “Drug War” now!


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