Majority Of Americans Back Removing Criminal Penalties

[Virgil]

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7219
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Zogby Poll: Majority Of Americans Back Removing Criminal Penalties For Adult Pot Use

March 22, 2007 - Washington, DC, USA

35 Years Later, Half Of All Americans Still Support

Shafer Commission’s Recommendations

Washington, DC: A slight majority 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." This proposal, commonly known as ‘decriminalization,’ was first recommended to Congress by the US National Commission on Marihuana (sic) and Drug Abuse (aka The Shafer Commission) 35 years ago today, on March 22, 1972.

Forty-eight percent of those polled by Zogby said they would oppose such a law. Three percent were undecided.

The poll has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.

Respondents' support for marijuana law reform was strongly influenced by age and political affiliation. More than half of Americans (52 percent) between the ages of 30 and 64 supported decriminalizing pot, 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, as did 51 percent of Democrats. Only 37 percent of Republicans supported eliminating federal penalties for minor marijuana 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 decriminalization 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 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.

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[AmeriSkunk]

We'll never get any change here because the religious majority will vote to keep it illegal and we cant outnumber them. Not to say that all religious people wont vote to decrim it but the majority won't, IMO vits bettter to move to a more acceptable place.

[SlyCrayon]

Murkans need to start throwing those seeds from the local schwag they have been buying out the window onto fertile land along the highways as they are driving those gas-hungry vehicles. Or toss them over the fence into the neighbor's yard. The birds will pick them up and spread them furthur. Don't throw them away! Free the seeds!

[t_stoned]

IMO vits bettter to move to a more acceptable place.

and there is the truth