Search Results: majority-support (4)

Madame Noire
Mayor Svante Myrick, Ithaca, N.Y.: “New York should lead on this issue just as we led on repealing alcohol prohibition”

Svante Myrick, the mayor of Ithaca, New York, announced on Tuesday that he thinks it’s time to legalize marijuana. The 25-year-old elected official’s announcement comes one month after voters in Colorado and Washington strongly approved measures legalizing marijuana. 
“Despite having arrested over 20 million people for marijuana nationally — a number larger than the entire population of New York State — marijuana prohibition has failed to make our communities safer,” Mayor Myrick announced exclusively to the organization Marijuana Majority. “By legalizing and regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol we can free up our already overburdened courts and law enforcement agencies to focus on serious and violent crime.

Marijuana Majority

Marijuana Reform Is An Increasingly Mainstream, Majority-Support Position
Site Lets Supporters Tweet Prominent People to Encourage Speaking Out
Just over two weeks before voters in three U.S. states decide on ballot measures to legalize marijuana, a new website launches on Monday that tracks prominent people and organizations speaking out in favor of changing marijuana laws. MarijuanaMajority.com allows visitors to see just how mainstream this debate has become by viewing and sharing visually appealing lists of elected officials, actors, medical organizations and business leaders who support solutions like decriminalizing marijuana possession, allowing medical marijuana or legalizing and regulating marijuana sales for adult use.
In addition to tracking prominent people who have already spoken out, MarijuanaMajority.com has a social component that lets individual supporters play a role in convincing even more opinion leaders to publicly say they favor reform. Visitors to the site will be able to easily send targeted tweets to celebrities and politicians with just a few clicks, encouraging them to speak out and join the Marijuana Majority. Among the initial “Get Out the Quote” targets are Ben Affleck, Mark Cuban, John Cusack, Van Jones, Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”), Shaquille O’Neal, Rihanna and Kanye West.
“At a time when polls show that a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana and that mega-majorities support allowing medical marijuana or at least decriminalizing possession, it makes no sense whatsoever that so many national politicians look at this issue as some kind of dangerous third rail of politics,” said Tom Angell, founder and chairman of Marijuana Majority.

Photo: Showtime
“Weeds” star Mary Louise Parker: Cultural bellwether?

​There’s more good news for supporters of marijuana legalization. For the first time ever, Rasmussen Reports’ poll of American adults has a plurality supporting legalization: 43 percent think marijuana should be legalized, while 42 percent think is should remain against the law.

Almost two-thirds of Americans — even those who are against it — now believe that marijuana will be legalized within the next 10 years.

A “plurality” in polling terms simply means that more people are in favor of pot legalization than are opposed to it.

That’s quite an improvement from a year ago, when a similar Rasmussen poll found 41 percent supporting legalization and 49 percent opposed, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at FireDogLake.
“It is possible that Prop 19, by bringing the debate to the forefront, is starting to noticeably move national opinions by forcing people to take some time to actually think about the issue,” Walker said.

Graphic: SF Appeal
Prop 19 is ahead by 16 points! Is it November yet?

​Pothead Power, people. California’s Proposition 19, which would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and older, is currently leading by a wide margin among state voters, according to a new poll. The measure is supported by 52 percent of voters, and opposed by only 36 percent.

The new PPP poll (PDF) shows the largest margin of support yet seen from recent polling on Prop 19, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at FireDogLake.
Interestingly, the poll found Prop 19 support among African Americans to be very high, possibly influenced by the California NAACP’s recent endorsement of the legalization measure.
African Americans are the strongest supporters of Prop 19, with 68 percent in favor and 32 percent against, followed by whites who support it 53 percent to 37 percent.