A slight plurality of Americans support amending federal law to remove “criminal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by adults,” according to a national poll of 1,078 likely voters by Zogby International and commissioned by the NORML Foundation.
Forty-nine percent of respondents, including 57 percent of men, said they would support “a law in Congress that would eliminate federal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by adults and allow states to adopt their own policies on marijuana.” Only 48 percent of those polled said they oppose such a law; three percent were undecided. The poll has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.
This proposal, commonly known as decriminalization or decrim, was first recommended to Congress by the US National Commission on Marihuana (sic) and Drug Abuse (The Shafer Commission) 35 years ago, on March 22, 1972.
Respondents’ support for cannabis law reform was strongly influenced by age and political affiliation. More than half of Americans (52 percent) between the ages of 30 and 64 support decrim, while only 45 percent of those under age 30 and 43 percent of seniors endorsed it.
Among those who identified themselves as political Independents, 62 percent supported federal decriminalization legislation, and 51 percent of Democrats. Only 37 percent of Republicans supported eliminating federal penalties for minor cannabis offenses.
Respondents’ opinions were also influenced by educational level and ethnicity. Fifty-three percent of those polled who had obtained college degrees said they backed decrim versus only 44 percent of those without college diplomas.
A majority of whites (51 percent) and nearly half of African Americans (49 percent) said that they supported decriminalization, while its stated support among Hispanics was only 26 percent.
The poll found little difference in attitudes among parents (48 percent support) and non-parents (50 percent support) on the issue. Americans’ views did not vary significantly by region.
Gender and holding a belief in God significantly influenced respondents’ opinions. Among those polled, 57 percent of men said they supported removing criminal pot penalties versus only 41 percent of women. Of those who reported having no religious affiliation, 63 percent supported
decriminalization legislation.
NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre noted that the poll was one of several recent surveys indicating growing support for ending cannabis prohibition. “This latest poll confirms an 80 percent upward swing in public opinion since 1990 in favor of ending the war on cannabis consumers,” he said.
The Congressional commission felt “the criminal law is too harsh a tool”to apply to pot possession
A Zogby poll of 1,004 likely voters commissioned last year by the NORML Foundation reported that 46 percent of Americans support allowing states to regulate cannabis, similar to alcohol.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of the NORML Foundation, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at 202-483-5500. norml.org/pdf_files/NORML_ Nationwide_Poll_2007.pdf
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The Men's Wearhouse George Zimmer
Dr. Dale Gieringer received his Ph.D. at Stanford on the topic of DEA drug regulation. He is the author of articles on marijuana and driving safety, drug testing, marijuana health mythology, the economics of marijuana legalization, and DEA "drug enforcement abuse." He is presently working on a book on medical use of marijuana. He has also sponsored research on the use of water pipes and vaporizers to reduce harmful tars in marijuana smoke.
