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News :: Drugs |
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Time/CNN Poll: Majority Of Americans Support Medical Marijuana For Patients, Decriminalization For Adults |
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by NORML
(No verified email address) |
01 Nov 2002
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Support For Legalization Rises To 40 Percent - More Than Doubling Since 1986 |
October 31, 2002 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: Eighty percent of Americans support the legal use of medicinal marijuana by patients, and 72 percent say that adults who use marijuana recreationally should be fined, but not jailed, according to a nationwide poll conducted last week by Time Magazine and CNN. Only 19 percent of respondents favored jailing recreational pot smokers.
"There is a consensus among the American public that the government's war on marijuana is misguided, ineffective and unnecessarily punitive," said NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup. "The public recognizes that adults who smoke marijuana responsibly are not criminals and they do not want to spend our nation's limited police resources arresting and jailing them."
In addition, 40 percent of respondents also said that they favored the legalization of small amounts of marijuana. That figure is more than double the percentage of Americans who endorsed legalization in 1986. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they opposed the legalization of small quantities of pot, and nine percent were unsure.
Stroup said that the shift in U.S. public opinion is indicative of a sea change taking place worldwide regarding marijuana policy. "From Europe to Australia to Canada, governments are recognizing that marijuana prohibition is more damaging to society than marijuana use, and enacting reforms to abolish criminal penalties for the responsible use of cannabis by adults. Here in America, more and more people are coming to the conclusion that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and should be legalized and regulated similarly."
On November 5th, Nevada voters will decide on a ballot initiative to eliminate all criminal and civil penalties for the possession of up to three ounces of pot (http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5426). Polls indicate that Nevadans are evenly divided on the issue. In September, a special Canadian Senate Committee report (http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5285) recommended Parliament legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana to anyone age 16 and older.
According to the Time/CNN poll (http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101021104/story.html), 47 percent of Americans admit having tried marijuana, up from 31 percent in 1983. This figure is dramatically higher than the percentage reported by annual government surveys, which maintain that only one-third of Americans have smoked marijuana. However, most experts believe that federal surveys generally under-report illicit drug use.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. Previous polling data is available on the NORML website,
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4420 |
See also:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm
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