Zogby poll: 52% of Americans support legalization of pot
A Zogby poll found that over half of American's favor the legalization of pot:
Voters were asked: "Scarce law enforcement and prison resources, a desire to neutralize drug cartels and the need for new sources of revenue have resurrected the topic of legalizing marijuana. Proponents say it makes sense to tax and regulate the drug while opponents say that legalization would lead marijuana users to use other illegal drugs. Would you favor or oppose the government's effort to legalize marijuana?"Zogby Poll: Majority support legalization (Thanks Jonathan!)
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If you don't like my fire, then don't come around, because I'm gonna burn one down.
Only 52%? ;)
I'm pro-legalization, but I've got to say that's a really biased survey question.
Too bad I wouldn't trust a Zogby poll at all. His polling during the 2008 campaign was laughable.
I would love it if the result was true, and I do think that more and more the legalization question has moved to the mainstream instead of the fringe. It seems more like a real option now than it did five years ago.
But Zogby is just not a very good pollster, and hasn't been for some time.
I think the only appropriate comment for this headline is "DUH"
a fun statistic to compliment the prop 8 tyranny of the majority type arguments.
Need to snag that 11%.
But yea, I'd like to see what other polls say on this issue.
It makes a farcical sham of our legal system one of the most freely available and ubiquitous products in our economy is called illegal.
To my understanding, it is the largest cash crop in the United States, to say nothing of the peripheral nation-states of Mexico and Canada. That it is even a debate whatsoever only displays how ridiculously behind the times our laws have fallen. It is a non-issue.
For all intents and purposes, it is already legal, except that it gives corrupt police a reason to harass youth or steal from higher level dealers.
Even medicinal marijuana seems a sham, with cigarettes and alcohol causing so many more health problems and fatalities, not to mention cancer causing agents all around us, it seems that it should suffice 'because I feel like it' should be reason enough. Marijuana is utterly harmless.
Even taxation seems out of the question, law enforcement simply cannot be expected to keep this substance out of the hands of people who desire it, and if it were put under taxed, only the foolish would give up their secretive operations to voluntarily give up their own profits.
It is a non-issue.
The real issue is not at all that marijuana should be made legal, a meaningless abstraction, but that hemp should be permitted to be grown freely and its industrial uses put to the betterment of our society. There is no reason, whatsoever that the American people cannot grow hemp, a crop which has played so large a part of our history, save that those who have a vested interest in keeping it illegal keep it behind the smoke screen of marijuana.
This is to say nothing of the money required to keep those in jails or prisons who have not done anything immoral.
Might have been a bit better of a poll without the lead-in remarks: "Do you favour the legalisation of cannabis?" Results might not have been so sensible though.
The question wording was a bit um thick and I have my reservations about Zogby, but I've seen other surveys with the number in the same general range. A plurality if not a majority are ready for legalization.
There will be a lot of unintended consequences (and not just a nationwide shortage of Cheetos, a sudden uptick in Visine sales and a Taco Bell's first stoner-specific ad campaign), but hey, I believe in personal responsibility and choices, so I say go for it. I love the way this could expand our prison capacity overnight: jails for real criminals, not idiot dope slinging teenagers.
The tax revenues probably won't be as large or come in as fast as people think: there's already a tax-avoidance distribution system in place.
(Next on Boing Boing Time Machine: The 2035 Senate hearings featuring the CEOs of Big Weed.)
The correct comment: What, were the other 48% too stoned to give the right answer?
A close childhood friend of mine is now finishing a minimum-mandatory five year sentence for having too much weed.
Even the judge that sentenced him said, "I wish I did not have to impose this sentence on you" and my friend will not have any probation/parole.
He was looking at twenty years. For a fucking plant!
This is a scam, not just on the marijuana smokers, but upon the USofA public through taxes that pay for prosecution and incarceration of non-violent marijuana users.
What about the murderers, rapists and child molesters that do not look at anywhere near the amount of time a marijuana user looks at?
You know if you murder or rape someone, you can still receive government aid to get a higher-level education, but if you smoke one joint and are caught, schooling is not an option!
im 25, i dont know anyone who is against it. I dont smoke, my girlfriend only smokes at parties, and i know plenty of people who have never tried it. But no one i know is against legalization...its more of a "who the hell cares" topic. why not legalize if no one cares?
hahahaha, weed is a gateway drug? what idiot came up with that? I know it's been around forever, but seriously. The only thing weed is a gateway to is eating, watching tv and sleeping.
Mountain Dew is the real gateway drug, and it's EVERYWHERE! ;D
The only reason that pot is a "gateway drug" is because its illegal. If you have a dealer that sells you weed he can get you crack too. If pot was not illegal you wouldn't have to enter the shady world of the black market to get it would be no more of a gateway drug then beer is.
If any thing it would become an anti gateway drug. I think people would be much less likely to enter the black market if they had legal pot as an alturnitve to harder illegal drugs.
Marijuana is a gateway drug for a lot of people, but not for any of the reasons the anti drug lobby tries to hype.
It's a gateway drug for two reasons:
1. When you have to buy anything on the black market where the profit margin is in the thousands or tens of thousands of percent there is a strong incentive for them to mix or dilute the product with other - potentially toxic - fillers. There is also a strong incentive to 'lock in' customers by mixing in other, more nasty, truly addictive substances, so it's not hard or uncommon to end up with a lot more than you bargained for in that ounce you bought from the guy you don't know well but had this primo stuff you couldn't pass up.
2. Fool me once, shame on you ... When authority lies to people about the dangers of pot, and they do - with great volume and regularity - people understandably stop trusting the authority... Then, when they tell the truth about the very real life destroying potential of opiates and amphetamines, it's just that much easier to chalk it up to more noise and misdirection from an untrustworthy source with an agenda.
Last week the Filed Poll in CA found that 56% favor legalization.
52% of people that answered the poll. Yes I'm pro legalization, but this is why statistics are many times invalid.
It's a gateway drug like swimming is a gateway to drowning. Plenty of people go swimming just fine.
Remember, Juries: Nullify!
RE: taxation, and the avoidance thereof
I seriously doubt that would happen. Legal pot would already be faaar cheaper, because that law-evading structure is extremely expensive. And, because it would be regulated, subject to lawsuit, etc., it would be a much more consistent and therefore safer product. I'm sure there would still be some smuggling, but probably more like what we see with tobacco than the current marijuana trade. Expect to see people stocking up on regulated but sales-tax-free marijuana at Indian reservations.
And to whoever called it "utterly harmless." Shhh. Don't overstate the case - the truth is enough. It's not utterly harmless, and people know that. If you insist on claiming it is, people aren't going to listen to whatever other arguments you have, because they'll write you off as a crazy pothead.
@#16 EEYORE
"there is a strong incentive for them to mix or dilute the product with other - potentially toxic - fillers."
Tired argument. There are no toxic fillers in pot, and as for lacing it with other drugs - that's actually bad for profits, considering that those drugs, by weight, are much more valuable than marijuana. You're perpetuating a fantasy that simply doesn't exist. Contaminants have a distinct taste and if they are present in concentrations high enough to cause a measurable effect, you will taste it. I'm sure it's happened, but you're more likely to get a finger in your chile than you are to get unexpected coke, meth, or pcp in your pot.
The idea that people are lacing weed to 'trick' people into becoming 'addicted' is simply a rediculous myth.
That Zogby question was a little better than their original:
Since marijuana helps alleviate the pain of cancer treatment, is all-natural, mellows people instead of enflames them like alcohol and does not lead to heroin, could you find it in your heart to at least consider its possible legalization so that we can stop the bloodshed caused by merciless drug cartels and keep innocent people from being locked in overcrowded prisons with hardened murderers and rapists?
"opponents say that legalization would lead marijuana users to use other illegal drugs"
Eeyore, there's also another reason why this statement is a sham. It has to do with stock at retailers once MJ becomes legal. Right now people buy weed from dealers who usually have other things available for the asking. When 99% of people are getting their weed at the corner drugstore or growing it themselves there won't be any gateway opportunities any more.
Here's an analogy. When Prohibition was repealed, alcohol didn't turn out to be a gateway drug for Absinthe. Why? Because liquor stores don't carry absinthe.
We shouldn't forget that this chart has a +/- 4.20% margin of error:
i.e. "Wait...what?"
Weighing in to say that I liked the question, I planned this post before I read any of the negative comments. I thought the question was nonbiased and lucid. But I respect above comments otherwise, its not worth flame about.
While there are more actual commented benefits than negative statements, the question does make for less neutrality in the mind of the questioned. The poll-taker does not have to think, "well I don't support open, non-taxed sale of weed, or I don't support regulation of all now classified narcotics." I think the poll question allowed the responder to truly polarize pretty well... for all that.
@eeyore
I had forgotten your second point, but after being reminded I remember how much it had affected me the first time I had seen it. We are the government. Not Louis the whatever, and not even our elected officials. If our laws do something so horrifically stupid, then how does that reflect on us. And what does that say for the next generation that we must make way for.
@#16 EEYORE
also, any dealer that gives a damn about his reputation wouldn't be caught dead lacing his weed. people make money selling weed according to two things - how reliable/available they are at any given time, and the quality/consistency of the product. dealers thrive on reputation and references, so having consistently high quality stuff is up there on the list. there's no need/incentive to lace high quality weed. the people want weed. you sell them really good weed. they come back to buy more weed. no addictive substances are required.
I support the creation of charts that look like pies ... cuz I gots the munchies really bad, dontcha know ....
@#22
"If our laws do something so horrifically stupid, then how does that reflect on us."
I don't remember being party to the passing of these laws. So if any reflections are taking place, they ought to be directed at those who did, not we who live 80 years later. The Founding Fathers very stupidly omitted a mechanism for periodic law review and contesting BY THE PEOPLE that isn't choked by the arrogant, administration-appointed and out-of-touch Supreme Court.
It seems to me that new laws are made all the time but that very few are ever repealed, even the ridiculous ones that show up in a variety mag article every few years, like you can't fuck in a bathtub in texas or something.
I've always resented the fact that the vast majority of the laws that exist were passed by people who are no longer living. Whatever happened to 'no taxation without representation'? I'm allowed to vote on new taxes, but not existing ones? Where's my representation regarding income tax? Property tax? When do i get a voice regarding the taxes i am forced to pay?
I wish I could take credit for this, but I'm quoting straight from this metafilter post.
marlboro greens...coming soon.
The majority of Americans support legalized marijuana and a single-payer healthcare system, yet politicians seem to pretend these options don't even exist. The American public has been shut out of our own government to such a degree that things a clear majority of us want aren't even discussed, let alone accomplished.
Question: Would you favor or oppose X?
Answer: Yes.
Wha...? I mean, I have been smoking, but I bet this won't make sense in the morning either.
@#33
I dont think you can lump in the healthcare issue with something as cut and dry as pot: legal or illegal? I think you might get a majority of americans to say that they want single payer healthcare, but only because they dont understand what the implications of such a system are. Similarly, you can get a majority of women to sign petitions to end womens suffrage, so dont forget to factor in the ignorance of the people being polled regarding complex issues.
Hey, how about this idea, government - cut our fucking taxes so we can afford the health insurance that we pick, and choose to have or not have, and which we can control, and choose to leave from if dissatisfied. The one-size-fits all idea is retarded. And honestly, i'm not going to put up with having to pay for everyone elses health insurance through taxes while paying for my own private insurance through my taxed earnings. I know you all want everyone to help everyone but you don't get that by forcing people who are already struggling like mad, despite working hard at a skilled profession, to pay for those who simply don't have their shit together.
On a similar note, hey if i wasnt being taxed so hard for social security, why, i might actually be able to start saving money in an interest bearing account! but no, they take it from me, without my consent, and when i get old i'll not have any savings, and they will have spent all of what i put in (or they'll dole it out to me so slowly that i'll die before i see even 10% of it)
Although these numbers seem reasonable, here's a quick article by Nate Silver (538) on "The Worst Pollster in the World".
...I can't find the actual report anywhere. The salem-news page doesn't have any links, and I can't find this on Zogby or O'Leary.
Nate Silver - if you are reading this, I (and I think the rest of the BB readership) entreat you to conduct your own poll!
"Would you favor or oppose the government's effort to legalize marijuana?"
is there actually a goverment effort ongoing to legalize it?
I used to say in my life-time no way i'll ever see a black president or pot legalized, the country is just too ignorant..
hmm. good days ahead perhaps
@wareagle - I was saying the exact same thing the other day. Obama got elected about 30 years earlier than I expected. Maybe in the next 5 to 10 years we'll see legalization come to pass as well.
The question isn't neutral. I've done research and real surveys like this.
This result is scientificly worthless.
Marijuana is in fact a gateway drug. It introduces you to drug dealers.
Man, I love BB readers. Anyway, everyone who made the point reg. the illogical reasoning of dissent based on it being a gateway drug...I whole heartedly concur. All reasons for legalization are SO valid.
I am planning on my retirement of having a grow farm. I AM NOT KIDDING. I am already scouting property in CA as I assume they are the first to go full legal, as they are the most hard up for a painless tax dollar.
There is "University" in Oakland called, I believe Amsterdam University wherein they prepare/edumacate you in growing, policy, etc. Very excited.
I would have loved to see what % of the 37% also favor bringing back prohibition. ie-is it a redneck thing or a straight edge thing?
Alcohol is in fact a gateway drug. It introduces you to drug dealers.
The American public school system is in fact a gateway drug. It introduces you to drug dealers.
The English language is in fact a gateway drug. It introduces you to drug dealers.
College is in fact a gateway drug. It introduces you to drug dealers.
OMG BOINGBOING IS A GATEWAY DRUG!!!
I find these results encouraging, but just as others have noted, Zogby is one of the most laughable pollsters around. I hope that a few other, more respectable polls would confirm these results.
52% of the people are right 100% of the time. XD
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/ideaList.apexp?c=09a800000004fo6&lsi=2
not anymore scientific than a Zogby poll, but it still shows what people want. Legalization gets the most attention, and 20k more votes, than any other issue raised.
I was going to chime back in with a pithy 'mostly harmless' but I am not even going to make that concession and I stand by 'harmless'.
You can actually DIE from alcohol withdrawal. Benzodiazepine too, and one is as freely available as water and the other is prescribed in mass quantity.
Substance abuse is a very real thing, but few people would ever, ever realistically suggest that alcohol be made prohibited again in this country.
Marijuana is the most benign drug in existence.
Really though? Nobody? Hemp? Anybody?
I just wrote to Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) in the hopes that I, amongst other voices, would get him to at least consent to the legalization of medical marijuana. I cited my friend with cancer and my mother with pain from a spinal surgery gone wrong as two examples of people who gain reprieve from marijuana, yet whom I would not like to see arrested for their pursuit of relief.
I, controversially, also support the decriminalization of all drugs and state-funded treatment for all addicts. Don't know if the USA will be ready for that level of non-invasiveness into the private lives of citizens, but I hope to see it someday within my lifetime.
I would also like to open up my own cannabis coffeehouse in one of the more liberal parts of the United States someday. I always have wanted to own a cannabis coffeehouse/bookstore, and I'd like to do it in the States because I'm an American.
I dream big, tho.
I'm wondering what a poll of these so-called "libertarians" like those at the protests on April 15 would say. That might be an interesting way to figure out which ones are really LINO(?)
@ 22....
i would disagree that there aren't toxic chemicals in weed. Especially weed grown inorganically, from my understanding it can be full of all sorts of nasty chems if it is not properly "flushed" first.
Also, take a look into "Glass Weed" and "Soap Bar".
You'll see what I mean.
If pot is legalised the agri-addiction cartels (big Tobacco) would control market share. Potheads are lazy. Given the choice between growing your own herb or going down to the corner store to buy a pack of 20 pre-rolled joints, most smokers would opt for convenience. Given Big T's history of providing a pure, organic product free of adulterants and fillers, the thought of them providing my pot is scary. I think the only sane option is to decriminalize the posession and or distribution of marijuana under 10 pounds. Anything over that weight would be prosecuted as a crime. This removes big business from the equation while allowing for small time growers to do their thing. No one gets rich but many folks could augment their income nicely. It keeps pot local and insures quality. It also insures that the proceeds stay in the local economy rather than going to some multi-national corporation.
!!!But it causes MINORITIES to LUST AFTER AND RAPE our WHITE WOMEN!!!
Also, what will those poor synthetic fiber farmers do now? Think of the little people.. jeez.
All I know, is a restaurant that had out door seating and served marijuana cigarettes would make a killing. Never before would opening up a place that only serves appetizers sound so brilliant!
Actually people who smoke marihuana live longer than people who don't. It's because herb lowers a person's blood pressure. It also kills cancer, & counteracts Alzheimer's and mad cow disease. Hemp was grown to make sails & rope that withstood hurricanes in the 'good ol' days.' You can run diesel engines off hemp oil (ok rape oil too.) Hemp can be used to make clothes, Bibles, & paint. The seed is tasty when roasted, & parakeets like it raw. Oh hell go read Jack Herer's THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES.
"Proponents say it makes sense to tax and regulate the drug"
What makes sense is to stop throwing people in jail and seizing their property. I don't care whether that is accomplished through decriminalization or legalization.
I've been smoking it since 1967.
All along I've heard "not enogh studies have been conducted" and "It leads to harder drugs."
Uhhh... how long does that take? Because I've never injected heroin, or any other drug.
I strongly suspect that the major reason marijuana has any status as a gateway drug is BECAUSE it is illegal. If you didn't have to deal with drug dealers and make yourself a felon to get it, there's no reason it would be any more of a gateway drug than alcohol or cigarettes, but since you're already screwed legally and talking to the dealer... and what's more, throwing people in jail where they're going to spend all their time around thugs and gangsters, is a good way to hand gangs new members.
Tried it once and didn't like it, I hate the smell and the smoke sets off my asthma (if less so than most cigarettes)... but I still think it ought to be legal. The amounts of money and manpower we spend locking people up over pot, and the number of harmless people in our overcrowded jails, are just plain idiotic. Honestly, I think that for even the hardest, most damaging drugs - I'm talking about crack or PCP, stuff that fucks people up some good - the penalty for an amount one would use rather than sell ought to be detox and counseling about why they were taking it, not years in prison. That's the way to stop drug abuse, not locking users up and marking them felons for life so they can't get jobs.
@ 43
STEPHEN STEPHEN is that you??? Where you been baby?
The poll question may seem biased, but they are often written that way in order to test the efficacy of the particular arguments pro or con some position.
As far as the question itself goes, I don't think any sort of smoking is very healthy, so I am not one of those people that thinks anyone should smoke drugs. That said, we seem to have an anti smoking campaign that is growing in effectiveness, and could easily be expanded to treat drug abuse as a public health issue rather than a legal one. Why not try it for five years and see if things get better or worse?
I support the legalization of any recreational drug that:
1. Does not cause extreme irritability or rage. (This would exclude drugs such as meth)
2. Does not do more damage than a yearlong pack-a-day cigarette habit in a single use. (Again, excludes meth)
I also support the legalization of recreational use of prescription drugs, provided it is accompanied by a drop in price for medical uses. After all, their potential market increases but the cost of development does not, so the average cost of R&D per user should drop. This wouldn't greatly affect drugs without recreational usage though.
This is coming from a person who won't even touch alcohol, let alone pot. My biggest vice is intentional insomnia.
The world needs more people like you Ghede...
Wile I personally would support the legalisation of drugs (with proper controls), the poll question used is just way to leading for my liking, it is obvious the answer that they were trying to achieve.
I am reminded of this clip of Yes, Prime Minister, where Sir Humphrey gets Bernard to agree to two opposing points of view, just by changing the leading questions.
i feel if its that serious, lets make one state in america that has a place where its legal. then do some test to see what it does,etc. it would be like having a little amsterdam town in america. i can almost bet that it would be a totall f#%k up....who knows, it could probably be a tourist money maker.....?????? but if you ask me, im against it...100%..8 years ago i was the biggest pot head.....its not that serious...
Phikus@15: "Mountain Dew is the real gateway drug, and it's EVERYWHERE! ;D"
Mountain Dew is even more dangerous than you think.
@ #51 redsquid:
But now you've removed any incentive the states have to decriminalize/legalize pot. The only reason the Governator is looking at legalizing the sale of pot in California is to help fix his terrible deficits. This would be done by taxing sales. Which produces more taxes: Local people growing in their yards, smoking what they grow and trading it around, or Big Tobacco selling it in packs of 20?
It would be nice to get to a point where society at large realizes that what I choose to ingest is NO ONE'S BUSINESS BUT MY OWN.
Get your laws off my Cheez Whiz
@#33 nutbastard
speak truth to the power, brother!!!
although i have my doubts that either of us will see any benefits from the tireless toil into the government's coffers. which kind of pisses me off, seeing how i have been toiling for a good long time.
i have nonetheless, accepted the idea that there will be no retirement for me, and the best revenge for me will be when i seize up at my assigned work station, my co-workers will have to deal with the resulting stench of me soiling myself.
a guy can dream can't he?