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A historic new majority of Californians are ready to legalize cannabis, a new poll from Public Policy Institute of California finds.
PPIC reports that 55 percent of likely California voters want to replace marijuana prohibition — which has failed — with a system that taxes, and regulates the state’s multi-billion cannabis industry.
Several groups are working to place the issue on the ballot in 2016, and “support for legalization is at its highest point since PPIC began asking this question in May 2010,” the group states.
“Today, 53 percent of residents say marijuana should be legal and 45 percent say it should not. Slim majorities supported legalization in October 2014 (51%) and September 2013 (52%). Among likely voters, 55 percent favor legalization. About three-quarters of adults (74%) who have tried marijuana say it should be legal, while only a third (35%) who have never tried it favor legalization.”
Activists working on the issue cheered the findings.
“The majority of likely California voters, like the majority of voters nationwide, prefer new regulatory alternatives over decades of failed criminalization,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML. “They recognize, correctly, that cannabis prohibition is a disproportionate public policy response to what is, at worst, a health concern but not a criminal justice matter.”
“This reflects the shift in attitudes around marijuana regulation that we have been seeing across the country and across the world,” said Amanda Reiman, a policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance. “In 2016, they will hopefully have the opportunity to act on these feelings and end marijuana prohibition in California.”
Legalization groups are going to have to preach beyond the choir.
“Residents aged 18 to 34 (61%) are more likely than older adults to say marijuana use should be legal (47% age 35 to 54, 52% age 55 and older). Most adults without children under 18 (59%) favor legalization. Most parents with children (54%) are opposed. If marijuana were legal, 53 percent of adults say it would not bother them if a store or business selling it opened up in their neighborhood, while 44 percent say it would. Most parents (54%) would be bothered,” PPIC states.
Armentano said, “Moving this issue forward in California in 2016 will require support from those voters who are, and voters who are not, personally familiar with cannabis. Reaching out to these latter voters will be critical. Previous campaigns in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska indicate that these nontraditional allies are persuaded when they learn that regulating cannabis protects our children from the black market, keep our neighborhoods safe and puts Americans back to work.”
“It is not surprising that support is lower among parents and those who have never used marijuana, because the old propaganda laden messages about marijuana use still linger,” Reiman said. “However, as this and other polls show, reefer madness is fading to make way for a smarter and health based approach to marijuana regulation in the U.S.”
PPIC conducted their Statewide Survey with funding from The James Irvine Foundation via telephone interviews of 1,706 California adult residents from March 8–17, 2015. The sampling error is ±4.7 percent for the likely voters.
PPIC reports that 55 percent of likely California voters want to replace marijuana prohibition — which has failed — with a system that taxes, and regulates the state’s multi-billion cannabis industry.
Several groups are working to place the issue on the ballot in 2016, and “support for legalization is at its highest point since PPIC began asking this question in May 2010,” the group states.
“Today, 53 percent of residents say marijuana should be legal and 45 percent say it should not. Slim majorities supported legalization in October 2014 (51%) and September 2013 (52%). Among likely voters, 55 percent favor legalization. About three-quarters of adults (74%) who have tried marijuana say it should be legal, while only a third (35%) who have never tried it favor legalization.”
Activists working on the issue cheered the findings.
“The majority of likely California voters, like the majority of voters nationwide, prefer new regulatory alternatives over decades of failed criminalization,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML. “They recognize, correctly, that cannabis prohibition is a disproportionate public policy response to what is, at worst, a health concern but not a criminal justice matter.”
“This reflects the shift in attitudes around marijuana regulation that we have been seeing across the country and across the world,” said Amanda Reiman, a policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance. “In 2016, they will hopefully have the opportunity to act on these feelings and end marijuana prohibition in California.”
Legalization groups are going to have to preach beyond the choir.
“Residents aged 18 to 34 (61%) are more likely than older adults to say marijuana use should be legal (47% age 35 to 54, 52% age 55 and older). Most adults without children under 18 (59%) favor legalization. Most parents with children (54%) are opposed. If marijuana were legal, 53 percent of adults say it would not bother them if a store or business selling it opened up in their neighborhood, while 44 percent say it would. Most parents (54%) would be bothered,” PPIC states.
Armentano said, “Moving this issue forward in California in 2016 will require support from those voters who are, and voters who are not, personally familiar with cannabis. Reaching out to these latter voters will be critical. Previous campaigns in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska indicate that these nontraditional allies are persuaded when they learn that regulating cannabis protects our children from the black market, keep our neighborhoods safe and puts Americans back to work.”
“It is not surprising that support is lower among parents and those who have never used marijuana, because the old propaganda laden messages about marijuana use still linger,” Reiman said. “However, as this and other polls show, reefer madness is fading to make way for a smarter and health based approach to marijuana regulation in the U.S.”
PPIC conducted their Statewide Survey with funding from The James Irvine Foundation via telephone interviews of 1,706 California adult residents from March 8–17, 2015. The sampling error is ±4.7 percent for the likely voters.
