| Photo: Saigon Market |
| I’m assuming dude falls on the “Yes” side of the question. |
A small majority of California voters supports the legalization of adult cannabis use in the state, according to a new Sacramento Bee/Field Poll.
The poll is especially interesting because it gave voters a menu of options from which to choose their preferred marijuana policy, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at Firedoglake.
“Maintaining the current marijuana policy is in fact an extreme minority position in the state,” notes Walker. Only one third of voters supports strictly enforcing current laws against pot, or passing even tougher laws.
Combining the small group (4 percent) of voters who think marijuana should be legal for everyone with those who support legalizing and regulating it like alcohol results in a total of 51 percent supporting legalization.
And combining that 51 percent with the 13 percent who believe penalties for cannabis should be reduced without actually legalizing it results in 64 percent — almost two-thirds — supporting either significantly relaxing California’s marijuana laws, or outright legalization.
Field Poll (July 2010)Legalize marijuana with age and other controls like those for alcohol: 47%Strictly enforce present laws and penalties: 19%Pass new laws with even tougher penalties: 14%Keep present laws, but make penalties less severe: 13%Legalize marijuana so it can be purchased and used by anyone: 4%
Interestingly, as Walker points out, the percentage of voters who support legalizing pot, at 51 percent, is almost identical to the percentage, at 47 percent, who have admitted to using marijuana at least once in their life.
“There appears to be a small majority of voters in California who favor legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis,” Walker said. “It looks like the Prop 19 outcome will be very close.”
“What is yet to be seen is whether Prop 19 will convince those who support legalizing marijuana to turn out in very large numbers this November to put it over the top,” Walker said.
