Poll: 80% Americans Want to Legalize Medical Marijuana
January 21, 2010 in Health Policy, Medicine
Really? This is up 11 points since 1997 according to the ABCNews/Washington Post Poll. What’s even more dramatic is that the percentage of Americans who won’t mind allowing their fellow citizens to possess small amounts of pot for personal (non-medical) uses has increased from 22% in ’97 to 49%
It’s interesting to note that these increases in public support for legal marijuana came mostly during the supposed conservative ideological swing
in this nation right after 9/11 and the Presidency of G.W.Bush. Maybe this was because of an increase in legalizing marijuana for medical use during this time, or maybe it was because the stark reality of 9/11 showed us that there are far more important things to spend hundreds of Billions of dollars on than regulating personal behavior. Or maybe the change is due in part to the fact that the old guard is slowly dieing off (personal use legalization was supported by just 23% of those over the age of 65 and 51% of those younger than 65).
Maybe it’s because of the slow realization that our “war on drugs” is doing little to reduce domestic consumption of marijuana (though cocaine/heroin use decreased dramatically after the ’80s and remains relatively low) while billions of dollars in partly US funded anti-drug law enforcement efforts have clashed with a lucrative drug trade in Mexico to create the perfect storm of violence that threatens to destabilize the one country on the entire planet that we can least afford to let go down the toilet.
The most amusing finding from the poll is that among those who “oppose medical marijuana, 75% say that if it is allowed, it should be limited to seriously or terminally ill patients.” More harmful than potent narcotics? It amusing to know people who oppose even legalized medical marijuana consider it to be so dangerous that they believe that it should be used only as a last resort. As if marijuana is the nuclear weapon of drugs. And they continue to wallow in their ignorance despite evidence to the contrary.
The percentage of Americans who support some form of legalized marijuana continues to increase to near record levels. This is unprecedented in a nation that has a hard time uniting and agreeing on anything short of war and yet Washington remains mute on this issue.
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Polls like this can be misleading. In addition to examining the general *support* for an issue, they should also try to gauge whether people actually think the issue is *important*.
The reason Washington remains mute is because there’s no political capital in either supporting or opposing medical marijuana. It may have widespread support, but it’s not an important issue to voters. Sure, they’d be OK with legalising medical marijuana, but they don’t really care whether it happens or not. Barring a tiny minority, I doubt any voter has “legalization of medical marijuana” in their top 10 issues.
I think it’s important and I vote and pay taxes. But you’re right and it’s more than just being important. Marijuana legalization is the political equivalent of the crazy aunt who lives in the attic. Everyone knows she’s up there but no one wants to deal with her. Marijuana legalization is political poison despite the fact that thousands in the US and Mexico die every year as a direct result of the drug trade and Billions spent every year on marijuana drug enforcement can be spent on . . . . . anything else!
We are the internet society. Truth, facts, and reason rule over distortion, lies and reefer madness mentality. This is the main reason that public sentiment about cannabis has shifted so quickly. You know of course that one of the reasons that marijuana was initially prohibited was the belief that marijuana caused black men to look at white girls in a certain way. It was reasoning at its worst but it and other lies proved enough to dupe an entire congress to outlaw cannabis. This is the basis of a very bad law that has only served to criminalize millions of otherwise law abiding citizens. The law is broken and you are seeing State after State reject the Feds draconian stance against cannabis. The will of the people will simply nullify an outdated and cruel Federal law. Watch and be amazed. A recent ABC poll reports that 82% of those polled support medicinal marijuana. 49% support outright legalization. We imprison more of our citizens than any country on earth. Surely we can’t be proud of this. What a responsible adult chooses to do in his home, away from the children, while harming no one else should not be the concern of our government. Enough of intrusion into our homes and lives.