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The voters of Oregon are evenly split on the issue of marijuana legalization, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling. The poll found that 43 percent of voters think the use of marijuana should be legal, while 46 percent think in general that using marijuana should remain illegal. This three point divide is within the poll’s 3.7% margin of error. From PPP:
Oregon
PPP (6/21-24)
In general, do you think marijuana usage should be legal or illegal?
Legal ……………………………………………………… 43%
Illegal …………………………………………………….. 46%
Not sure ………………………………………………….. 11%
There is a large partisan divide on the issue of marijuana legalization. A majority of Democrats support it (56% legal -30% illegal) and so do a plurality of Independents (47% legal -38% illegal). What keeps overall support down, though, is that Republicans in the state strongly oppose it, 75 percent think it should be illegal while just 19 percent of them think it should be legal.
The large age divide on the issue indicates time is clearly on the side of marijuana legalization supporters, though. The majority of voters under 46 think marijuana use should be legal, but that is countered by strong opposition from senior citizens. As time goes on and the older generations are naturally replaced by the young ones, support for legalization should continue to grow.
Barring a major cultural shift on the issue, it is only a matter of time before the demographic trends result in a solid majority of voters in Oregon believing cannabis should be legal.
8 Comments
It’s incredible to me that this bullshit is still even an issue. I was sure my generation would put a swift end to such ridiculous lunacy.
Silly me. Money and propaganda. Even so, still incredible to me.
When you consider that many of those who were members of the counterculture in the 60′s repudiated those ideals, joined the vast machine, embraced materialism, and attained positions of power that rely on corporatism, it’s really not that surprising. I find it to be incredibly disgusting.
Amazing! All those God fearing people don’t really understand their own religions. Cannabis was used in ancient times for Holy Water, Healing, and all sorts of ailments. Ask a Rabbi what the Holy Texts say regarding Holy Water and Holy Oil.
I didn’t know there were so many old people and assholes in Oregon.
I may be old(er) but ni asshole when it comes to mary jane. In fact, it amazes me that oldsters are so against it because we were the ones that took on smoking dope and did it, from the 60′s on.
I was even “over 30″ when I began using it.
@nonpartisan liberal,
I live in Oregon, I no longer use pot and I’m an original Portland hippie, from late 1966 forward (liberal, where were you that yr…?), now 64 yrs old, but I support legalization, and really resent your characterization…A lot of us boomers are more liberal than you, ie, I’m a proud american socialist class warrior, and there are a LOT of those in Oregon (check out Michael Munk, “The Portland Red Guide”).
In spite of what many might think, Oregon has always been a relatively rightist state, it has a large rural population, and it’s one of the whitest states, the KKK was active here in the 1920s…. but a lot of that has changed, and it was one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana, and there will be two initiatives (it looks like) on the ballot this fall to further legalize it. The med pot program currently has in excess of 54,000 enrolled members. There are clubs and emporia in Portland and other cities, and the Attorney General elect has said she supports the Oregon law. In twenty yrs, the percentage of support has gone up considerably, and I challenge many other western states to find that level of support, although the stats are probably similar. How about the midwest states??? fageddaboudit
There probably exist, however small a percent it may be, those who profit-well from the illicit price structure as it is. They’d rather risk being busted for illegal sales, than have prices drop when it’s legalized and supply increases.
Congress couldn’t legalize marijuana even if it wanted to. We like to think that our country makes decisions for itself, but when we signed the UN’s “Single Convention” treaty we gave away our right to make this decision.
Republicans probably don’t oppose legalization in order to be jerks, they probably oppose it because they know that we’re not allowed to do it.
If we want to legalize adult marijuana sales then we have to focus on what’s keeping them illegal – the United Nation’s Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.