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A new poll from Rasmussen finds the American people nearly evenly divided on whether or not to legalize and tax marijuana to help the government bring in new revenue.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of American Adults say the federal government should legalize and tax marijuana for that purpose, but 45% disagree. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure if it’s the right approach to generate more revenue for the government. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
In May 2009, 41% of voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana, but 49% of voters opposed it. There’s been a similar divide over just the legalization of the drug.
The results of this poll are very similar to a Pew poll from earlier this month that also found those opposed to legalizing cannabis barely outnumber those in support.
The general trend in both polls is that Americans have been steadily becoming more open to the idea of legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana. It is very likely that before the end of the decade, all major national polling will find a majority of Americans in support of legalization.
23 Comments
I hate to be an optimist but it is very likely that by the end of the decade we won’t need to do a poll on how America feels about legalizing something that has already been made legal.
Great News. Thank You.
Hate to be a skeptic, but this is how I see pot legalization happening: Legalize, corporatize it, buy government, Monsanto gets its claws in it… I suppose its better than the war on drugs, though.
I don’t ever really see MJ being corporatized or Monsanto-ized. Too many people are growing it and maintaining their own genetically diverse seed banks to allow a major player to take over and dominate the industry.
Not corporatized? Pot would become the new tobacco industry. And that’s where buying government steps in. Watch homegrown pot become a ‘threat’ to the ‘welfare of the public.’ It would be a multi billion perhaps multi trillion dollar industry. That’s a LOT of money and power.
The don’t want to legalize marijuana because then they wouldn’t be able to use it in character assassination. Gotta thin that field so only the biggest ass kissing cowardly shills get elected.
Most people who have ever used marijuana most likely would say that they are in favor of legalizing, taxing et cetera. Also, because of the stigma involved in its use, I have an idea that more than a few of them would not answer a polling question honestly for fear of the consequences. That being said, if the numbers stated are accurate, it is my fervent wish that it be legalized pronto, my aging brain could use a little stimulation and relaxation! Now that’s something I would wait in line to buy!
This is like prop 8. Why the fuck do people get to vote whether I smoke pot or not. Tax and regulate? This is the stupid half of the population, looking down their long nose at me and saying – well workingclass, I guess its ok for you to smoke under certain circumstances and provided you pay us a big fucking tax (FBT). Kiss my ass. I’m fine with black market weed.
It’s as simple as a stroke of a pen. Decriminalize!
When I ask people from all walks of life about legalization I get a very wide range of answers…but when I ask about just folding it into the California set of laws regarding alcohol, from growing/production through distribution to retail, all licensed under the same requirements and restrictions as liquor, probably 8 out of 10 say “yeah, that sounds OK”. Plus I can brew a fairly decent amount of my own beer and make wine; don’t see why the inclusion of pot under these laws should preclude growing limited amounts of excellent product.
In a perfect world the growing and sharing of herb would be uncontrolled, and Big Business wouldn’t be both scared shitless about being involved with weed—and totally transfixed by the profit potential….but we-all figured out long ago this ain’t no perfect world, eh? So roll cannabis–so to speak–into the liquor laws and get on with life.
That’s a good point. Why would it need to be taxed. Certainly not to fund the war on drugs. In fact, if it were taxed, it would no doubt fund actual wars. How ironic.
Monsanto has already the legal power to stop small farmers from growing non-GMO crops near their GMO farms. Sorry no link. But you can google it.
At age 50, I am nonplussed to find that the Illuminati has kept pot illegal (and half the people dumb as turnips) all these years.
Corporate MIC Tool Barack Obama is a Socialist and a secret Muslim. /S
I wish.
Book Salon up with Stephen Partridge’s The Cambridge Companion to Baseball hosted by, uh, me!
This is an issue where progressive leaders in high public office could do a tremendous amount of good, lending their arguments to the discussion, advocating for legalization. Alas, we don’t have those.
Al Franken and the rest work hard for AIPAC, though.
Exactly.
Not true,in fact:
A Cluster of Farmers Takes Monsanto To Court
don’t spread stuff like this around. It just dis-empowers us.
As for pot….I hope so, because of all the ills society faces from the criminalization of illegal drugs, while the real criminals get off scot-free.
there’s a book out for a couple of years called. “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” by Gabor Mate`
It’s a “must-read” for anyone interested in or struggling with ANY addiction. Very enlightened and much new material on the addictive process in the brain.
The US’ War on Drugs is literally tearing society apart. It’s way past time to deal with this issue more humanely than stigmatizing addicts and locking up people who’ve been traumatized all their lives.
I hope if the gov does a committee on this subject, they get this guy to come talk to them!
If there was a law that all police officers, lawyers, judges, and politicians had to take random piss tests, marijuana would be legalized in a heartbeat.
Feature, not a bug.
In addition to DuPont wanting to outlaw hemp in favor of their wood pulp and nylon products, the War on Drugs was and is a thinly-veiled mechanism for suppressing the african-american population. Busting long-haired hippy-freaks was just an added benefit.
Washington Post
Gonna call BS o you on that one, hack. That crap has been debunked dozens of times – it’s simply mot true.
Not only that; Obama really IS channeling Reagan:
Dispatch From El Salvador: Obama’s Drug War Feels Eerily Familiar
For author Lovato el Salvador feels like 1980, the year its civil war started, after U.S.-trained death squads murdered Monsenor Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
It’s really pretty unbelievable how much this guy lied to US; he’s set the gold standard for all the politicians. The Tea Party owes him a debt for having shown them how to do it.
Here here! A-f*cking-men!
Legal or not they cannot stop me. I have been smoking for over 40 years, I’m not about to stop now when it has done so much good for me.