Marijuana Legalization Gaining Support

For the last couple of years, polls have shown that more and more people are coming to the realization that marijuana should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. In the last election, two states (Colorado and Washington) actually voted to legalize the recreational use of pot. Now there is a new poll showing the idea of legalizing marijuana is gaining popular acceptance.

This latest poll is a CBS News Poll, taken between November 16th and 19th of this year. CBS News has been polling about marijuana legalization for a while now, but this poll marks the first time that those wanting to keep marijuana illegal didn't have a majority. This latest poll shows that there are now as many people wanting to see pot legal as those who don't want that. The poll is tied -- 47% to 47%. That's a big improvement over the poll taken in October of 2011, when only 40% were in favor of legalization and 51% were opposed. Here's how the latest poll breaks down by political and age demographic groups:

REPUBLICANS
legal...............27%
illegal...............66%

DEMOCRATS
legal...............51%
illegal...............41%

INDEPENDENTS
legal...............55%
illegal...............41%

18 TO 29
legal...............54%
illegal...............41%

30 TO 44
legal...............53%
illegal...............42%

45 TO 64
legal...............46%
illegal...............48%

OVER 65
legal...............30%
illegal...............61%

Note that both Democrats and Independents support legalization, while only Republicans oppose it. And the only age group showing significant opposition to marijuana legalization is the over 65 group. That signifies a good future for those supporting legalization -- as these older voters die off and are replaced by younger voters.

It's also interesting that support among the general public is overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical use (83% in favor to 13% opposed), even though 53% believe that people are getting prescriptions for marijuana who are not sick. It seems that a majority don't mind recreational use when accompanied by a prescription.

A significant majority of the public also believes the federal government needs to get out of the business of regulating marijuana. About 59% think each state should be able to decide for itself whether to legalize marijuana or keep it illegal. Only 34% think marijuana use should be addressed by the federal government.

Attitudes toward marijuana are changing fast in the United States, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if several more states legalized its recreational use pretty quickly (now that Colorado and Washington have broken the ice). Hopefully, President Obama will now instruct federal agents to get out of the marijuana punishment business, and re-direct their efforts to the harder drugs (if they feel compelled to keep on conducting the failed "war on drugs").