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A plurality of Colorado voters think the use of marijuana should be legal according to the most recent PPP poll of the state. From PPP:
In general, do you think that marijuana usage should be legal or illegal?
Legal …………. 49%
Illegal ………… 40 %
Not sure ……… 10%
A majority of both Democrats (64-36) and Independents (54-34) think marijuana should be legal but Republicans remain mostly opposed to the idea by a margin of 30 – 61. Not surprisingly voters under the age of 30 strongly back legalization (72-24) while senior citizens want marijuana to remain illegal (32-58).
This is effectively unchanged since August when PPP asked the same question and found 51% legal – 38% illegal. The small drop in support being within the poll’s 3.5% margin of error.
The poll is especially important because soon voters of Colorado will likely officially decide on the legal status of marijuana because the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol has recently turned in enough signatures to get their initiative qualified for the ballot.
With support and opposition to the concept of marijuana legalization so close in the polls, the initiative will succeed or fail by a very slim margin depending on who actually turns out to vote.
The good news for marijuana legalization advocates is that unlike 2010 when Proposition 19 narrowly lost in California, 2012 is a presidential election so there should be much higher turnout among young voters.
[photo: Spartak/Shutterstock.com]
10 Comments
“If marijuana is legalized there will be more fender benders at traffic lights and fewer head on collisions on two lane highways.” -J. Kramer
Regardless of election results, politicians – 0bama included (or perhaps especially)- will never allow it to become legal. They enjoy too much the ability to invoke “mandatory drug testing” to beat people down and prevent them from getting jobs and/or assistance for the jobless. There are too many politicians and crony corporations getting fat on the endless “War On (Some) Drugs”; why would they ever take any action which would reduce their ill-gotten profits?
As long as both major parties side against public opinion on this- or any other- policy issue, there is no consequence for ignoring that public opinion. This is how both sides of the duopoly can successfully insulate themselves from accountability for ignoring the will of the people.
It’s a big deal here in Denver.
In fact I think it’s why Mike Hancock beat Chris Romer in our mayoral contest last May, since Romer was running around bragging that he had brought some “discipline” to the dispensaries issue.
Romer was sent packing, as people here like the dispensaries and the whole legalization project.
State initiatives are the only option for reform. The mainstream politicians wont do it without a clear, unequivocable indication of citizen support for reform. Even then they will kick and scream every inch of the way until its done..then say I Was With You All The Time..
If this passes it should be seen as a portion of a trend which, over years and ballots in many states, slowly undercuts the opposition. It would not be a tsunami or earthquake.
Colorado isn’t going to change the Fed’s minds in one fell swoop. Aside from curtailing the state’s own MJ laws, the most the state can do versus the Feds is to demur from participating in, supporting, or opposing the Federal prohibitions which will remain. It would be a passive resistance stance, and the Feds would continue on their own, no?
In practise it may not be all that easy for the state, if cooperation is required by the Feds in order to obtain Fed dollars to support an array of programs in Colorado. I haven’t seen anything in print about what cutoffs, if any, could occur that way, especially those which might be automatic rather than by political fiat.
Maybe all those FDLers seriously prioritizing this issue should be contributing to Gary Johnson’s campaign for President? FYI, he was TWICE elected Republican Governor of an overwhelmingly Democratic state.
Johnson’s economic libertarianism makes him a non-starter for those who might support him for his stance on social issues.
If we make marijuana legal, then what’s next? Will people be allowed to marry it?
I’m with you,and I’m a doctor. They won’t ever move against caffine which, in my opinion is worse than marijuana.