Majority Of Americans Want Pot Legalized: Zogby Poll

A majority of Americans, in a poll released Wednesday, say it "makes sense to tax and regulate" marijuana. The Zogby poll, commissioned by the conservative-leaning O'Leary Report, surveyed 3,937 voters and found 52 percent in favor of legalization. Only 37 percent opposed.

A previous ABC News/Washington Post poll found 46 percent in support. In California, a Field Poll found 56 percent backing legalization.

Responding to the poll at a press conference Tuesday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for an open debate on legalization.

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?"

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

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Comments

[Chip W]

A question that should be asked about any legislation regarding choice, and one that doesn't get asked much, is: Whose choice is it to make - the individual's or the government's? If the answer is "The government's" there should be a compelling reason.

Why isn't it my choice whether I smoke a joint?
Talking about whether grass is good or bad is irrelevant until there's a reason the choice should be taken away from the individual.
Also, a government role shouldn't be: Protect people from themselves.

[me4you]

excellent comment Chip W !
Alcohol is not good for us but we are allowed to do that. We can drink ourselves silly and not until we drive and put others in harms way are we breaking the law.
Could you imagine all the rules that could exists if the job of the gov was to keep us "safe" from ourselves......it would be scary!
Seems hypocritical and foolish to be able to drink but not smoke.
You can keep me from harming others but not myself, and that is the way it should be.

[Reighben Labilles]

Good point! Besides, marijuana doesn't seem to have any of the dangerous effects that other drugs possess. They don't lead to psychosis after just a few doses, they don't waste you away, rot your teeth or make you prone to other diseases. They just sedate you and give you the munchies (am i right?) that just makes you eat more. Legalization of marijuana would cut down or completely eliminate any crime related to the distribution and acquisition of it. So, that would be good for social order too. And, the ability to tax it will provide the additional revenue the government needs. Isn't this a win-win scenario?

[Malkin71]

This will sound odd, but we need to fight to legalize..­..suicide.

Suicide laws establish a bad precedent...it says their right to decide what happens to you/your body/your life supercedes your right to decide.

Thats bs.

[MsLiz]

Have you knowledge of anyone prosecuted for suicide? I don't. I am aware that one may be ordered to a hospital psychiatric ward following a failed suicide attempt. That is as it should be.

[Chip W]

I don't know if you'll get back to this, but I definitely agree with you.
In pragmatic terms it doesn't really matter (I doubt if anyone's prosecuted), but that there's a law on the books, that taking one's life is any business of the government, is the extreme of government intrusion into individual's lives.

[NPA]

As a non-smoker of anything besides turkey legs (ummm). My concern isn't why marijuana isn't legal my concern is why is regular smoky tobacco legal?! Both of these products are derived from plants, but tobacco companies have to add addictive chemicals (namely nicotine) to keep consumers basically addicted. No one dis spells that smoking cigarettes kills, it has absolutely no health benefits yet the government benefits greatly from its taxation. How many types of cancers are cause by cigarettes, and millions die annually.

[MsLiz]

Would criminalization stop it? No. It would create a crime wave.

[manoftheearth]

Lol this is like the least scientifically valid poll in the world
you cant give a survey that is preceded by an arguement for why one of the options is the better choice.

that doesn't reflect public opinion, it reflects public opinion right after reading solely of the benefits of legalizing weed. "opponents of marijuana legalization argue it will lead to harder drugs" lol. thats a straw man arguement
thats not even about weed, its not even discussing whether smoking marijuana is bad for you.
theyre basically saying, legalizing marijuana is right, not legalizing it is wrong, do you think we should legalize it?

sigh
meaningless

[Malkin71]

They gave some brief arguments before asking one side and then before asking the other?

The fact that there are more good reason to legalize it than not doesn't make the poll biased.

[worldlyhick]

The prohibitionists quite often confuse cannabis with heroin, cocaine, pedophiles and bestiality.

Cannabis (pot, marijuana) is a plant with value as an herbal therapy. It only requires growing to be useful. The plant is not toxic or addictive. No one can consume enough cannabis to get a lethal dose.

Heroin and cocaine would require considerable processing and quality control if they were legalized, so these are separate issues from cannabis entirely. The users may require some help, because these drugs are concentrated with respect to their pharmaceutically active compound.

I haven't heard of anyone proposing legalizing pedophilia except 1409chris929. It has nothing to do with this discussion, however, except to point out the peculiarity of prohibitionist ideas.

No one here (except the aforementioned chris) or at PETA has proposed bestiality. It is considered to be cruelty to animals.

[zizyphus]

In July 2001 Portugal decriminalized all drugs. Now, teen drug use dropped, as have STDs.

The only reason the US wouldn't decriminalize drug use is that the money from organized crime has corrupted our government. Everyone is making so much tax-free money with it illegal.

Meanwhile, nearly a million people sit in jail for simple possession of a substance that makes them feel better.

Everyone should be growing the helpful herbs in their yards and gardens. We have a right to medicinal plants. They are what kept our species alive before all this "science".

[mrmikes]

Bingo! Current drug laws keep criminals in business selling poor quality hay that you couldn't give away if cultivation were legal.

[cornagainstsorcery]

Zogby polls are practically worthless. Worth about as much as Rasmussen. Even though I want to believe this is the case. I do not trust Zogby polling. Especially when other recent polling still has pot legalization favorability clocking just under 50%.

[Pierce Nichols]

That makes it only twice as popular as the GOP...

[PUAAN]

According to the article, the poll was commissioned "by the conservati­ve-leaning O'Leary Report". Presumably, the people who commission the poll think up the question. The pollster (Zogby) just asks it.

[lmg123]

i disagree with pot doing nothing but good for people. Most people I know that smoke(d) pot only ended up using something else, and i've had 6 friends O.D.

my mom used it and she abused us, and her boyfriends as well.

Pot only causes problems. If we go legalizing that, then we might as well say goodbye to our braincells now, and anymore advancements that may come.

[Pierce Nichols]

ISTR people said the same thing about ending Prohibition. Marijuana prohibition is every inch the disaster that alcohol prohibition was. It functions as an extremely expensive subsidy for criminal gangs and other no-goodniks.

And yes, smoking pot every day will mess up your life. So will drinking every day, but no-one with a lick of sense advocates a return to Prohibition.

[Frenbar]

1. No scientific study has ever shown that Marijuana kills brain cells(unlike alcohol). In fact, some actually suggest that Marijuana causes neurogeneis, that is the regeneration of brain cells.

2. The "slippery slope" argument is extremely misleading and illogical on several levels:
a) Since Marijuana is an illegal substance, those people willing to break the law and consume it already show a predisposition to break rules, so you are unable to get an accurate representation of how the "average" person would progress in their drug use.
b) Lies and propaganda spread by the government greatly increase drug use of all kinds. The government tells people that Marijuana is horribly destructive, will destroy their lives, and cause all sorts of health issues. They are told this drug is so deadly that its reasonable for men with guns to kick down your door and drag you away for merely possessing it. All of these lies are clearly exposed the first time a kid uses marijuana. The next step is for that kid to reject everything the government has told them about all drugs since their credibility is shot. So when the government tells them cocaine is bad, why should they believe it, the information about Marijuana was all lies right?

The bottom line is, that the government cannot, and should not, be telling people what they can or can't do for their own good, period. Any time that line is crossed it leads to nothing but bad things.

[Chip W]

A role of government should not be: Protect people from themselves.

Re: Lies and propaganda
Ever see "Reefer Madness?" Hilarious propaganda film, I think from the 50s.

[MsLiz]

My sympathies for you loss of friends and your mother's poor parenting.

In law we speak of a "but for" test. Your position is:
But for marijuana, your childhood would have been idyllic.
But for marijuana, your six friends would not have overdosed on other drugs.

I don't think removing marijuana from the equation would have improved these situations markedly. There were no doubt many other issues.

[Malkin71]

Right....no offense, bud, but your mom was a white trash ____. Don't blame the pot.

Poor parenting is rampant. Let's make that illegal.

[PUAAN]

OD on POT?!?!?
1)Let's keep the discussion to cannabis, not all drugs.

2)Give up on the gateway thing. It's a logical fallacy. As the lads in Monty Python put it so beautifully: "'All wood burns,' states Sir Bedevere. 'Therefore,' he concludes, 'all that burns is wood.' This is, of course, pure bullsh*t. Universal affirmatives can only be partially converted: all of Alma Cogan is dead, but only some of the class of dead people are Alma Cogan." The gateway theory has also been disproven in a recent Institute of Medicine study.

3)Your mom was AN ABUSER, and I am very sorry. Not everyone who uses a substance abuses it. Your childhood experiences have given you a skewed view of use and abuse.

4)Pot does NOT cause damage to brain cells.

Now go forth young human and do some research.

[hanerau]

Just think of the boon it would be to the fast food and snack food industries. Those skyrocketing sales alone could turn around the economy.

[MsLiz]

And the diet industry.

[Coinyer101]

so what? Holder is a hawk on marijuana laws. Obama think's its a joke. Republicans think it causes 'possession' by ev il de mons, and who knows what else? marijuana gets a bum rap and it has always done nothing but good for people.

[GunneraGirl]

but marijuana is the anti-capitalist drug. whereas the drug of capitalism caffeine, is not only legal but the object of daily rituals.

[cc]

Thanks for speaking up GG. It's a relief to know someone else has noticed this too.

[MsLiz]

Obama cannot advocate legalize pot, else every other policy he espouses becomes tainted by the smell of smoking joints.

[JohnnyWalkerBlueLabel]

Pot should never have been criminalized in the first place, nore poppy cultivation. These things are harmless.

[petrosbasileus]

Zogby polls are notoriously unreliable... But I do think third rails like legalized marijuana and gay marriage will become increasingly palatable to Americans as the baby boomers begin to d-i-e out.

[ncmom54]

I'm a boomer, dont wish me dead... it would help me get off cigaretts & xanax. Plus I have acreage, if its legalized in my lifetime, I'll sell my business,buy a tractor and retire a happy farmer.

[Mosby007]

Could you use a farmhand?

[dumboldfarmer]

Never expect to see marijuana legalized. It would screw up the illegal profits funneled to black ops.

[Hermano28]

I agree with most of your statement Judesedit. But keep in mind that its Cigarett Companies that put the chemicals into Cigarettes not the government. Check into "American Spirit" Cigaretts if you dont believe me. Also there are currently 13 US Citizens that recieve "US Medical Marijuana" each month From the US Government each month. These are the very first, AND ONLY 13 citizens to recieve medical Marijuana from the government, which they were Grandfathered in, from a bill passed by Former President George Bush, (41).

And GlenRast, the monkey getting cancer. Was because the schientests, who performed the study on Marijuana on monkeys, just forced nothing but Marijuana smoke into the monkeys, with out allwoing them to breath in oxygen.

There are great gains from legalizing Marijuana and Hemp.

[AlaninElkGrove]

Oreos?...Far out, man!!!

[judesedit]

Definitely a lot more pros than cons on the issue. The only bad thing is if the government regulates it, they will start to put hundreds of chemicals in it, just like commercial cigarettes. And people will begin dying from smoking it, also. Noone has died from using good ole unadulterated maryjane, and personally, I'd really like to keep it as organic as possible. Once they get hold of it, instead of helping cancer victims, it will begin to create them. As far as hemp goes, we are losing out on a huge industry that would help to create jobs and many useful products. Our government will wake up when we start to vote for the people that are the most informed, unbiased and really care about the majority of their constituent's, their state's, and their country's best interests.

[bcw]

Smoke in your lungs is unhealthy no matter what's on fire.

[GlenRast]

The amount of smoke a casual once in a while pot smoker takes in is less than following a school bus for 5 minutes.

I do seem to remember something about a monkey getting lung cancer but I believe they gave it 10 joints worth a day.

[Ais4Atheist]

there has never been a case of lung cancer in a marijuana only smoker...

oh and by the way, theres these things called vaporizers, they're smokeless...

oh and baking it

[Ais4Atheist]

and my friend with asthma just told me five seconds ago that her doctor said it wouldn't be bad for her to smoke weed because it would HELP with her asthma... why you might ask... THC helps open the capillaries in the lungs making it easier to breath

[cjk002]

Itr's not the smoke that causes cancer, it's the 400 chemicals that are added to cigarrettes. There has never been a case of anyone developing cancer from smoking marijuana, it's much safer than alcohol and has fewer side effects than most prescription drugs.

[zizyphus]

Smoking has been an acceptable drug delivery system for thousands of years. In moderation, it is fine. We take twenty thousand breaths a day, a couple full of medicinal herb smoke is nothing to worry about.