A recent poll from Gallup shows that a record number of Americans support the legalization of marijuana. For the first time ever, a record-high 50% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal, an increase over last year's 46%. Conversely, 46% of Americans still think marijuana use should be illegal.
Gallup notes that when it first inquired about legalizing marijuana way back in 1969, only 12% of Americans were in favor, while 84% were against it. Over the years, those numbers shifted to the point of nearly breaking even.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws lists marijuana as the third-most-popular recreational drug in America, trailing only alcohol and tobacco. Both of these are legal, yet restricted. Avid smoker Curren$y retweeted a White House petition posted by High Times Magazine’s Senior Cultivation Editor Danny Danko that called for marijuana to be legalized and regulated in a fashion similar to alcohol.
Some states have decriminalized the use of marijuana, and even though the feds are trying to shut it down, other states have made it legal for medicinal use. A 2010 Gallup survey showed that 70% favored prescribing marijuana to reduce pain and suffering, and note that Americans have traditionally leaned towards medical use rather than casual legalization.
The study also shows that support is related to age, with the 18-29 crowd offering 62% of support while only 31% of people over 65 approve. Liberals are two times more likely than conservatives to favor legalizing marijuana, and Democrats and independents are more likely to favor it than Republicans. Shocking, right?
With support growing annually to the point that half of Americans support legalizing marijuana today, is it possible that lawmakers may fold and just legalize it? We’ll see, but even if they don’t, people will continue to smoke weed.
[via Gallup]
ConservativeChristian October 19th, 2011 at 11:19 AM
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
YR October 19th, 2011 at 11:37 AM
so where were they when California voted to legalize it
Vincent Von Dudler October 19th, 2011 at 07:40 PM
The end of federal prohibition is right around the corner. We just need your voice and every other person that cares about these civil liberties to speak up. NOW is the time. Tell the federal government to leave the decisions up to the states. They will listen or be replaced. Tell your representatives: http://pvox.co/CdiFqY Tell the Obama administration: http://wh.gov/gDQ
DonDig October 20th, 2011 at 07:23 PM
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 used cannabis oil (topically) to cure melanoma as he shows in this short movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tghUh4ubbg Dennis Hill was diagnosed with prostate cancer and used cannabis oil (by ingestion) to cure himself. http://web.me.com/dbhill/cure/Home.html Rick Simpson from Canada, who discovered the cannabis oil treatment, said he has seen hundreds of people over a period of six or seven years, including a number of stage 4 cancer patients. 70% of the stage 4 folks recovered, many of whom had been told by their doctors that there was nothing else to be done, and they should go home and get their affairs in order. The “Run From The Cure” movie is about him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0psJhQHk_GI “What If Cannabis Killed Cancer?” www.marijuanamovie.org 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 more than 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 so this research could proceed. 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 non-toxic cancer cure, and one seems to be clearly within reach.