cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Wins Majority Support in Nationwide Poll



cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Wins Majority Support in Nationwide Poll
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Marijuana Wins Majority Support in Nationwide Poll
Posted by CN Staff on April 04, 2013 at 15:23:54 PT
By David Lauter
Source: Los Angeles Times
Washington D.C. -- A majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, a new poll indicates, with the change driven largely by a huge shift in how the baby boom generation feels about the drug of their youth.By 52% to 45%, adult Americans back legalization, according to the survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. The finding marks the first time in more than four decades of Pew's polling that a majority has taken that position. As recently as a decade ago, only about one-third of American adults backed making marijuana legal.
Two big shifts in opinion go along with the support for legalization and likely contribute to it. Most Americans no longer see marijuana as a "gateway" to more dangerous drugs, and most no longer see its use as immoral. As recently as 2006, half of respondents said in a Pew survey that marijuana use was “morally wrong.” Now, only one-third do, while half say that marijuana usage is “not a moral issue.”By an overwhelming margin, 72% to 23%, respondents said the federal government’s efforts against marijuana “cost more than they are worth.”Similarly, by nearly 2-to-1, respondents said the federal government should not enforce its anti-marijuana laws in states that allow use of the drug.The Obama administration has been vague on what stand it will take concerning federal law enforcement in states such as Washington and Colorado, which have legalized marijuana for recreational use, or in states such as California that allow medical use. Federal prosecutors in California have brought charges against some sellers of medical marijuana.Read the full survey from Pew Research: http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/04/majority-now-supports-legalizing-marijuana/#comfort-levelIn December, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. acknowledged a “tension between federal law and these state laws” and said that a clarification of federal policy would come “relatively soon.” That has not yet happened. So far, 24 states and the District of Columbia either have decriminalized personal use of marijuana, legalized it or allowed it to be used for medical purposes. Federal law currently treats marijuana as a dangerous drug with no legitimate medical uses.The poll suggests a shift in federal law may be slow. A notable political split exists on the issue, with conservative Republicans heavily against legalization, while majorities of Democrats, independents and liberal and moderate Republicans back it. Conservatives have strong sway among Republicans in the House.But on two issues, opinion is more uniform: the belief that current enforcement efforts are not worth the cost, and acceptance of the idea that marijuana has legitimate medical uses. By 77% to 16%, poll respondents said they agree on that, with support for medical marijuana cutting across partisan and generation lines.Support for legalization is strikingly uniform among states, with the percentage virtually the same in the states that have decriminalized, legalized or allowed medical use and in the 26 where marijuana remains fully illegal. There is little variation among various regions of the country either -- a sharp contrast with other cultural issues, on which coastal states tend to be more liberal and the South more conservative.That finding contradicts the strategy that supporters of marijuana legalization have followed over the past decade, in which they have pushed first to allow medical marijuana in the belief that states that have taken that step would more likely back full legalization. The new data suggest either that such careful strategizing was unnecessary or that a broader cultural shift in favor of full legalization has made it obsolete.The percentage of people who say they have used marijuana in the last year (about one in 10) or at any point in their lives (about half) is virtually identical in states that have legalized some marijuana use and those that have not, suggesting that more liberal laws have simply made usage more visible, not increased it, as some have feared.The main divisions on marijuana legalization are those of age: Younger Americans back legalization more than their elders, although the poll shows legalization gaining support among all generations.Among those age 30 to 49, parents are less likely to support legalization than non-parents. Those with children 18 or younger at home are closely divided, 50% to 47%, while those without children at home support legalization by a 62%-35% margin.The effect of parenthood may also be part of the most striking shift in opinion -- the change among members of the baby boom generation. During the 1970s, when baby boomers were in their teens and 20s, a plurality supported legalizing pot, with support hitting 47% in a 1978 survey. But as they aged, boomers changed their minds, with support for legal marijuana dropping to fewer than one in five baby boomers by 1990, when members of the generation were in their 30s and 40s. Since then, they've shifted again, and the new poll shows 50% now support legalizing the drug.Contrary to the image of boomers turning to pot to assuage the aches and pains of middle age, however, only 7% of those age 50 to 64 said they had used marijuana in the past year.Overall, 48% of poll respondents said they had used marijuana at some point in their life. Those who admit using the drug are far more likely to support legalization than those who say they never have used it, although support for legalization has grown among both groups.The percentage now saying they have used marijuana at some point is up considerably from the 38% who said so a decade ago. The poll does not make clear how much of that shift involves an increase in recent usage versus people being more willing to admit past marijuana use or, simply, the passing of an older generation that was much less likely to have used the drug.Just over one in 10 people in the current survey said they had used marijuana in the past year. Among those younger than 30, more than one in four said they had done so. Among those who had used marijuana in the past year, just over half said they had done so at least in part for medical reasons, with 47% saying they had done so “just for fun.”The Pew survey was conducted March 13-17 by telephone, including cellphones and land lines, among 1,501 American adults. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author:  David LauterPublished: April 4, 2013Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/CWjk9Ba3CannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 05, 2013 at 12:50:13 PT
idsense
Thank you. Welcome to CNews.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by idsense on April 05, 2013 at 11:58:22 PT:
Medical treatment 
Hi Fo Mo,
     Been enjoying you and everyone's comments as a beacon of truth after all the governments lies. Let common sense , compassion and scientific study take over. Thank you 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by Hope on April 05, 2013 at 10:02:49 PT
Ours has always been and still is
a righteous cause. A very righteous cause.All of those that suffered in any way, or died or were murdered because of the many evils of this prohibition are why we are here. Every citizen that had a government gun pointed at their head or their family member's head, or their home invaded by government henchmen because of the cannabis plant is why we're here.Every person put in a cage or a grave by the government over this plant is why we're here.Every sick person that suffered because this gentle herb's help was denied them is why we are here. Our cause has been righteous, no doubt, and we have done and are doing a good thing by doing everything we can, without violence... to end the violence and injustice of cannabis prohibition.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by Garry Minor on April 05, 2013 at 08:57:54 PT:
GCW- you're on to something!
"Cannabis is good according to the very 1st page of the Bible. Some of the very last hold-outs are people who say they believe in the Bible. It's time to acknowledge that 1st page."As you know, it gets a little deeper! 
There are 250 shekels of Kaneh bosm, Cannabis (mistranslated as calamus) in the Holy Oil that God instructed Moses to prepare for anointing His priests, and later king and prophets, for all generations to come, including that of Jesus and even today!
The title Christ/Messiah means literally; covered in oil, Anointed!http://khem-caigan.livejournal.com/3259.htmlWe know for a fact that the first Christians Anointed themselves with Holy Oil! I'm sure they were intelligent enough to use the correct recipe!
A couple of examples!The chrism is superior to baptism, for it is from the word "Chrism" that we have been called "Christians," certainly not because of the word "baptism". And it is because of the chrism that "the Christ" has his name. http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html“Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians.” www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.ii.xxv.htmlFunny how the modern churches are "opposed to or against" their very namesake! At least they are in my hometown! Therefore they're literally and Biblically, .... antichrist! 
They don't like hearing that, but, the Book says what it says!Even the Biblical Canon is convicts them! Hemp was used for measuring rods and cords!Origin: Greek kanon / κανών, Arabic Qanon / قانون, Hebrew kaneh / קנה, "straight"; a rule, code, standard, or measure; the root meaning in all these languages is "reed" (cf. the Romance-language ancestors of the English word "cane").How could this happen?
It's almost like a curse!
The leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the nations.If the religions of the world would learn and acknowledge that cannabis was at the foundation of their faiths this game would be over! 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_spiritual_use_of_cannabis 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(etymology)
http://khidr.org/cannabis.htm
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID11Ak03.html
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/2.htm
http://www.japanhemp.org/en/shinto.htm#other
http://www.prntrkmt.org/herbs/cannabis.html
http://www.suomenkannabisyhdistys.org/media/documents/Russo2007.pdf
 No wonder this world is so messed up!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by The GCW on April 04, 2013 at 19:34:24 PT
And support is still growing.
The Fed's can not ignore this poll along with the others. Especially the parts which indicate voters believe, "current enforcement efforts are not worth the cost"That's a huge statement and important info for the Obama admin. There's too too much riding against perpetuating cannabis prohibition and the longer they wait, support increases.-0-Cannabis is good according to the very 1st page of the Bible. Some of the very last hold-outs are people who say they believe in the Bible. It's time to acknowledge that 1st page.And when it says, "current enforcement efforts are not worth the cost" that's also a cue to those same people who also often want to be thought of as fiscal conservatives, YA THINK?Anyway, good news.
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Comment #5 posted by John Tyler on April 04, 2013 at 19:06:21 PT
time for politicians to support it 
I hope this will convince the timid politicians to support cannabis legalization. The public is already for full legalization, get with the program. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on April 04, 2013 at 17:32:52 PT:
"Houston, the Eagle has landed."
I said back in 2009 that our time had come, and we had reached the tipping point. The generational shift is no longer a matter of debate. That that generation is the one that was heavily propagandized to be against drug law reform and has instead embraced it, is of even greater import.Hemingway's famous 'bell' is tolling for cannabis prohibition. But it's not yet time to make the funerary arrangements; like a chicken without a head, the prohibitionists will still flail about...dangerously. They won't have the good grace to slink off the stage, but will get even wilder and crazier as their doom approaches...as happens with most authoritarian regimes when freedom starts to break loose from their white-knuckle death-grips. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 04, 2013 at 16:39:32 PT
HempWorld
You're welcome. I have never taken on a project I didn't believe in and I do believe God is on our side.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on April 04, 2013 at 16:14:48 PT
Thank You GOD and YahWeh/Jah Ras Tafari!
My life and that of fellow activists, has not been in vain. We are coming back, stronger than ever before, it is the law of nature...Thank you everyone for getting this done, thank you FoM, thank you GOD!I am so glad my children live to see this day with me.God Bless!
Kaneh Bosm!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on April 04, 2013 at 15:35:30 PT
Nobody and Nothing can stop this...
Yeah baby!How are the prohibs going to turn this around? With more lies and half-truths?There is no turning back, the American public is finally educated and also wants to be cancer-free for the rest of their lives and they want to get high while doing it!Rocky, looks like you are going to lose this one! I hope you live to see it, heck, you live to see it, right now!
Pot Law
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