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A plurality in Colorado now support legalizing/regulating marijuana (photo: El Tekolote / flickr)
Amendment 64, a ballot measure in Colorado to legalize and regulate marijuana narrowly leads in a new PPP poll of the state. According to the poll 46 percent of likely voters would vote for it, while 42 percent would vote against it. From PPP:
Amendment 64 is an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning marijuana, and, in connection therewith, providing for the regulation of marijuana; permitting a person twenty-one years of age or older to consume or possess limited amounts of marijuana; providing for the licensing of cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing facilities, and retail stores; permitting local governments to regulate or prohibit such facilities; requiring the general assembly to enact an excise tax to be levied upon wholesale sales of marijuana; requiring that the first $40 million in revenue raised annually by such tax be credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund; and requiring the general assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp. If the election was today, would you vote or against Amendment 64?
For ……………………..46%
Against ……………….. 42%
Not sure ……………… 12%
As with the recent poll of Washington State, there is a serious generational divide on marijuana legalization. Amendment 64 enjoys a plurality support among all age group under 65 but it is strongly opposed by seniors. Only 30 percent of voters over 65 support the initiative while 52 percent oppose.
The poll found slightly more support for the general idea of marijuana legalization than for this specific ballot measure. So 49 percent of Colorado voters “think marijuana usage should be legal” and 43 percent think it should be illegal. This divide is not surprising. There is often more support for general concepts than for specific pieces of legislation which can have particular provisions that potential supporters could disagree with. A good campaign on behalf of Amendment 64 should be able to close this gap as much as possible.
In comparison a poll from early this month by Rasmussen found that 61 percent of Colorado voters support marijuana legalization if the state is “regulating it in the similar manner . . . as alcohol and tobacco,” while only 27 percent oppose.
3 Comments
Yes tax it once we get states taxing pot and not having to fire as many teachers, police, firemen not have to cut their pensions as much or raise other taxes as much other states will take notice.
Long term less people in prison or jail for pot will save the state even more money. In order to pass this we need to keep saying Money!
We need to keep saying if we don’t get the money then rich neighborhoods get their teachers, police firemen cut first because they have the cash to afford more local taxes!
The GOP has screwed state wide taxes on schools for years but funded locally their schools more now its time to say ok fine we will drop your school’s funding, your police, firemen cash and send the cash to areas that need more teachers, police, firemen.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has claimed that cannabis leads to increased crime.
But studies have found no evidence of a link between cannabis the usage and an increase in crime.
In 1973, a report by the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse entitled “Marijuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding” found marijuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior, but rather “marijuana was usually found to inhibit the expression of aggressive impulses by pacifying the user, interfering with muscular coordination, reducing psychomotor activities and generally producing states of drowsiness lethargy, timidity and passivity.”
Good for Colorado!
This puts a bit more pressure on the Feds than a simple state decriminalization measure, or even enforcement-lite or passive resistance, as in several other states. Issuing any sort of licence and collecting revenue is a very big deal.
Absent Romney next year, maybe O would push a rescheduling button at some point. Having a few more Colorados might nudge him along, no?