Most Americans Want To Legalize Marijuana: New Poll

Graphic: Misplaced In The Midwest

​Just give me the ganja. A new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found that a majority of Americans continue to believe that marijuana should be legalized, but don’t support the legalization of other drugs.

In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,003 American adults, 55 percent of respondents support the legalization of cannabis, while 40 percent oppose it.

Democrats are the group most supportive of legalizing cannabis in the United States, with 63 percent in favor of ending the war on marijuana. Almost as many Independents, at 61 percent, also support the move.

Republicans were out of step with the majority on the legalization issue, with just 41 percent supporting marijuana legalization and 56 percent opposed.

Marijuana legalization enjoyed big majorities among men (57 percent) and respondents aged 35 to 54 (also 57 percent).

However, when it comes to other drugs, the numbers shrink rapidly.

Graphic: Angus Reid Public Opinion

Clear majorities of Democrats and Independents support marijuana legalization, while a clear majority of Republicans opposes it.

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Only 10 percent of Americans support legalizing MDMA, or “ecstasy.” Smaller proportions of respondents said they would approve of legalizing powder cocaine (9 percent), heroin (8 percent), methamphetamine (7 percent) and crack cocaine (7 percent).

Across the country, 64 percent of respondents said they believe America has a “serious drug abuse problem” which affects the entire United States. One in five (20 percent) believe the drug abuse problem is confined to specific areas and people (this would include the racist contingent who are blithely ignoring the facts).

Only one in twenty Americans — 5 percent — think America does not have a serious drug abuse problem.

The War On Drugs has a serious public relations problem, according to the poll.

Only nine percent of respondents believe the Drug War — the efforts of the U.S. government to stymie the illegal drug trade — has been a success. Two-thirds, 67 percent, say the Drug War has been a failure.

“The survey shows a country that is concerned about the effects of drugs, and at the same time deeply disappointed with the efforts of the U.S. government to deal with the drug trade,” Angus Reid Public Opinion offers in the “Analysis” section of their press release.

This is the third year in a row that Angus Reid Public Opinion surveys have shown majority support for marijuana legalization in the United States. The 2009 (53 percent) and 2010 surveys (52 percent) also found a majority of Americans calling for pot legalization.

“Cannabis is definitely not seen as a substance that is as harmful as other illegal drugs, as evidenced in the minuscule level of support for the legalization of cocaine or heroin,” Angus Reid Public Opinion noted.

The margin of error on the poll is plus or minus 3.1 percent, according to Angus Reid Public Opinion.

To see the full report, detailed tables and methodology of the survey, click here [PDF].

Graphic: Angus Reid Public Opinion

Marijuana legalization enjoys majority support across the board when it comes to genders and age groups.

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Philadelphia Saves Millions By Ceasing Criminal Marijuana Prosecutions

 

The city of Philadelphia saved an estimated $2 million last year by ceasing criminal prosecutions for minor marijuana offenses, according to comments made last week by District Attorney Seth Williams to the Philadelphia Daily News.

In April 2010, Williams publicly announced a citywide policy change whereby law enforcement officials would issue a summons rather than arrest and criminally prosecute minor marijuana offenders. Philadelphia NORML had actively lobbied for the policy change after finding that the city punished minor marijuana violations more severely than many neighboring counties. A February 2010 Philly NORML report also found significant racial disparities in the city’s marijuana prosecutions — noting that African American males comprised an estimated 83 percent of all persons in Philadelphia arrested for minor marijuana possession offenses.

The new enforcement policy took effect in June 2010.

Approximately 4,160 defendants were diverted under the program, called the SAM (Small Amount of Marijuana) program, during its first year, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. Defendants in the program pay a $200 fine and must attend a three-hour drug awareness class. Those who complete the class and pay the fine do not have to appear in criminal court and will not have a criminal record.

Previously, minor (under 30 grams) marijuana possession offenders in Philadelphia were criminally prosecuted with a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to 30 days probation or jail time, a $500 fine, and a criminal record.

“There’s no reason to waste tax dollars on harsh prohibition enforcement,” said Chris Goldstein, media coordinator for Philly NORML and publisher of FreedomIsGreen.com. “Removing the criminal penalties for marijuana possession helps to pay for firefighters, ambulances, and other necessary services. It’s that simple.”

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Chris Goldstein, Philly NORML Media Coordinator at: media@phillynorml.org.

La Crosse, Wisconsin Passes Marijuana Decriminalization Ordinance

By Martha Boehm

With a new City of La Crosse marijuana ordinance that takes effect July 24, people who are caught with seven grams of marijuana or less for the first time, could receive a ticket instead of being arrested.

“We think it sends a wrong message that it could soften attitudes about marijuana and we know when attitudes are softened, use increases,” said La Crosse Police Chief Ed Kondracki.

Chief Kondracki says juvenile arrests for marijuana use are up 50% this year. With the new ordinance, Kondracki says police officers will determine whether a ticket or arrest is appropriate on a case- to-case basis.

City council member Chris Olson, who introduced the ordinance, says getting a ticket gives people a change to change their ways.

“For a DUI, basically, they get a second chance and I think marijuana should be the same situation,” Olson said.

“I don’t think that it will change habits,” said City of La Crosse resident Jana Carter. “I think that it will kinda give the mentality that there’s more of a sense of a freedom to do it and that’s dangerous.”

But Charles Gittens says, “It’s the right thing to do because our courts are clogged up a little bit too much the way it is.”

Chief Kondracki says he just wants it to be clear that even with the new ordinance, marijuana is illegal not only in the city, but in the state.

“It is a dangerous drug and we have to be careful that we still engage in our prevention efforts,” Chief Kondracki said.

The chief says there is no set dollar amount to a ticket for possession of small amounts of marijuana yet. He says the city council will work with the municipal court judge to determine an appropriate fine.

Article From WEAU13 News

Tommy Chong Rips Drug War Advocate On CNN

420: How It All Started

Everyone with the slightest connection to marijuana knows that “420″ is code for weed, or the time to smoke it, or something like that. But when you have a magazine called The 420 Times, you should know the real story behind 420. And since we do, so so will you.

You won’t be surprised to learn that it involves a bunch of high school kids in California. This particular bunch went to San Rafael High School and called themselves “The Waldos” because, well, they used to meet by a wall. One day in 1971 they heard a rumor that there was a secret crop of marijuana hidden somewhere in the area, so they came up with a plan to find it.

The Famous 420 Statue

They decided to meet every day after school, by a statue of Louis Pasteur, at 4:20 PM. Then they got in a car, hotboxed it to a fare-thee-well, and went searching for the Mythical Garden Of Grass.

They never found the Golden Stash, but started using “420″ as code for their meetings, then as a general code for weed or weed-related activities in general (just like it’s used today).

And that might have been the end of it, except that San Rafael is in Marin County, and several of the Waldos had family connections to the Grateful Dead. Their use of “420″ as code for marijuana quickly spread through the backstage denizens of the Dead, and then through the entire Deadhead community. You know, those happy folks who followed the Dead from town to town, bringing their happiness, weed, and language with them everywhere they went…?

You know the rest. Now “420″ means weed in any context. Is it 4:20 yet? Time to smoke. “420-friendly” to renters on Craigslist means you won’t be hassled when you move in with your bong. And of course, April 20 (4/20) is pretty much party day everywhere, involving actual organized smoking activities, even where illegal.

It’s also been slipped into more movies than you’d care to count; not just traditional “stoner flicks” but also things like Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Pulp Fiction. But perhaps the best “slip job” was the one that permanently encoded 420 in the law…marijuana law, no less.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, California’s groundbreaking legislation that made medical marijuana legal for the first time, was not actually passed by the legislators themselves, but by direct democracy as Proposition 215. When the California legislators finally got around to solidifying some of the unclear concepts in Prop. 215, they passed it as Senate Bill 420 for all the world to see.

Cosmic Significance

But wait, there’s more.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy, the mega-super-duper-computer Deep  Throat calculates the answer to “Life, the Universe, and Everything” to be precisely 42, which is clearly just 10% of a perfect 420.

And in what is clearly either an incredible coincidence or proof that God is not only playing dice with the universe, but smoking fatties while he rolls them bones, the first-ever intentional LSD trip was taken by Dr. Albert Hofmann way back in 1943 at exactly 4:20 PM (and it was on April 19…damn! So close!).

Bob Dylan Is A Time Lord

There’s also Bob Dylan’s immortal party song, Rainy Day Women #12 and 35, with its subtle chorus, “Everybody must get stoned!”. No question about what Dylan meant by “stoned”, either, since he made a practice of smoking a joint or two before performing that particular song. If that wasn’t enough, he’s also the guy who turned The Beatles on to weed.

Dylan fans need no further proof that their guy is omniscient, since that song was released on Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde album in 1966, before any of the Waldos even got to high school.

12 x 35 = 420.

What a wild world with weed!

–
Old Hippie is a MMJ patient living somewhere in the wilds of California whose only link with the real world is a 420 MHz radio. He blogs on BeyondChronic.com and vapes on Sour Diesel.