The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
AP-CNBC Poll: Most in US against legalizing pot
By GREG RISLING
LOS ANGELES -- Most Americans still oppose legalizing marijuana but larger majorities believe pot has medical benefits and the government should allow its use for that purpose, according to an Associated Press-CNBC poll released Tuesday.
Respondents were skeptical that crime would spike if marijuana is decriminalized or that it would lead more people to harder drugs like heroin or cocaine. There also was a nearly even split on whether government spends too much or the right amount enforcing marijuana laws.
Almost no one thinks too little is spent.
Marijuana use - medically and recreationally - is getting more attention in the political arena. California voters will decide in November whether to legalize the drug, and South Dakota will vote this fall on whether to allow medical uses. California and 13 other states already permit such use.
The balloting comes against the backdrop of the Obama administration saying it won't target marijuana dispensaries if they comply with state laws, a departure from the policy of the Bush administration, which sought to more stringently enforce the federal ban on marijuana use for any purpose.
In the poll, only 33 percent favor legalization while 55 percent oppose it. People under 30 were the only age group favoring legalization (54
percent) and opposition increased with age, topping out at 73 percent of those 65 and older. Opposition also was prevalent among women, Republicans and those in rural and suburban areas.
Some opponents worried legalization would lead to reefer madness.
"I think it would be chaos if it was legalized," said Shirley Williams, a 75-year-old retired English teacher from Quincy, Ill. "People would get in trouble and use marijuana as an excuse."
Those like Jeff Boggs, 25, of Visalia, Calif., who support legalization said the dangers associated with the drug have been overstated.
"People are scared about things they don't know about," said Boggs, who is married and works for an auto damage appraisal company.
Americans are more accepting of medical marijuana. Sixty percent support the idea and 74 percent believe the drug has a real medical benefit for some people. Two-thirds of Democrats favor medical marijuana as do a slim majority of Republicans, 53 percent.
Peoples' views on legalizing marijuana or on allowing its use for medicinal purposes were largely uniform across different regions of the country, despite the fact that legal medical marijuana use is concentrated in the West.
Bill Hankins, 77, of Mason, Mich., opposes legalizing marijuana but strongly favors using the drug medicinally. Michigan is among the states that allow medical pot.
"It has been shown through tests to alleviate pain in certain medical conditions," said Hankins, who said he experimented with pot when he was younger. If Hankins fell gravely ill and "my doctor said I should have it to control the pain, I would use it," he said.
California was the first state to approve medical marijuana, in 1996, and has been the hub of the so-called "Green Rush" to legalize marijuana. But a patchwork of local laws in the state has created confusion about the law and lax oversight led to an explosion of medical marijuana dispensaries in some places.
In Los Angeles, the number of dispensaries exploded from four to upward of 1,000 in the past five years. Police believe some were nothing but fronts for drug dealers to sell marijuana to people who have no medical need, and the city recently adopted an ordinance to reduce that number to 70 in coming months.
Among those surveyed, 45 percent said the cost of enforcing existing laws is too high and 48 percent said it's about right. Democrats, men and young people were most apt to say the cost is exorbitant.
With state and local governments desperate for cash, some legalization proponents are pushing marijuana as a potential revenue stream. But only
14 percent of those surveyed who oppose legalization would change their mind if states were to tax the drug.
John Lovell, a spokesman with the California Narcotics Officers'
Association, said he wasn't surprised by the poll results because people already are aware of widespread abuse of legal prescription drugs and alcohol.
"Given that reality, we don't need to add another mind-altering substance that compromises people's five senses," Lovell said.
Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that, since the organization was formed in 1970, there's been a slow but steady erosion of opposition to marijuana.
"Every single metric is pushing toward a zeitgeist in marijuana reform,"
he said.
Ann Broadus, 58, of Petros, Tenn., strongly opposes legalization and medicinal use, but even she sees the day when the laws will change.
"Probably somewhere down the road it will be legalized, but I hope not,"
she said. "I think if it becomes legal, these druggies would be worse off."
The AP-CNBC Poll was conducted April 7-12, 2010, by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. It involved interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide on landline and cellular telephones. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
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AP-CNBC Poll: Legalizing pot won't boost economy
By GREG RISLING
LOS ANGELES -- Few people see legalized marijuana as a way to boost the economy and create jobs, according to an Associated Press-CNBC poll.
About a quarter of those polled said legalized pot would lead to more jobs in their communities; 57 percent said there would be no effect.
About a third think the economy would improve, while 46 percent foresee no impact.
"I guess it could make money, but it would also cost money to prosecute people who get into trouble, like" driving under the influence, said Amanda Leonard, 37, of St. Augustine, Fla. "I think it would even itself out."
People under 30, the group most apt to favor legalization, were most likely to see pot as a way to help the economy.
"I think with legalization we are going to have bigger revenue," said Roy Hernandez, 20, of Santa Monica, Calif. "I think it's a benefit moneywise and it's a benefit for the community because I think it would make the crime rate go lower."
If marijuana was decriminalized, more Americans favor private businesses selling it (54 percent) than the government (36 percent). But just 24 percent said they would be interested in investing in a company that sells pot.
And while 62 percent approve of states taxing the drug, with people from the West most likely to back the idea, only a third felt the levies would make a significant contribution to state budgets.
Still, Scott Callahan, 50, of Alton, Ill., feels every little bit would help.
"It's not a cure-all, but revenue is revenue," he said.
The AP-CNBC Poll was conducted April 7-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. It involved interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide on landline and cellular telephones. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
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How the poll on marijuana was conducted
By The Associated Press
-- The Associated Press-CNBC Poll on marijuana was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from April 7-12, 2010. It is based on landline and cell phone telephone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,001 adults. Interviews were conducted with 701 respondents on landline telephones and 300 on cellular phones.
Digits in the phone numbers dialed were generated randomly to reach households with unlisted and listed landline and cell phone numbers.
Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish.
As is done routinely in surveys, results were weighted, or adjusted, to ensure that responses accurately reflect the population's makeup by factors such as age, sex, education, and race. In addition, the weighting took into account patterns of phone use - landline only, cell only and both types - by region.
No more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than plus or minus 4.3 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all adults in the U.S. were polled.
There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.
The questions and results for this poll are available at http://marijuana.cnbc.com.
* * *
CNBC
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Legalization: More Americans Say 'No'
By: Trish Regan
CNBC Anchor & Reporter
Key Points:
* Fifity-five percent oppose complete legalization.
* Sixty percent support medical marijuana use.
* Forty-six percent say legalization won't help economy.
The majority of Americans are reluctant to favor the complete
legalization of marijuana for any purpose, despite efforts to liberalize
marijuana laws in states across the country, according to a new AP-CNBC
poll. Fifty-five percent of the people surveyed said they oppose
complete legalization, while one-third of the country is in favor of the
idea.
Americans' reluctance to legalize the drug is only marginally tempered
by the presumed economic benefits of legalization-an argument being
increasingly used by marijuana proponents in cash-starved states. Just
14 percent of the respondents that originally opposed legalization said
they would reconsider if the drug was taxed and the money aided state
programs and services.
As for the ability of marijuana to improve the economy (as some online
voters had suggested to President Obama when he conducted his first
cyber "Town Hall" shortly after taking office), a majority of Americans
(46 percent) believe legalized pot sales would have no effect on the
economy, though roughly one-third of the population disagrees, saying
marijuana would make the economy better. And the majority of those
polled said marijuana would have no effect on the number of jobs in
their communities.
That said, a good number of people see revenue possibilities. Assuming
the sale and possession of marijuana were actually legal, 62 percent of
the 1,001 people surveyed by telephone in the early April poll favored
taxing sales of the drug. Twenty-eight percent opposed.
But the country apparently favors a low tax rate. The majority of
respondents felt that a rate somewhere between 10 percent and 25 percent
would be appropriate.
Perhaps speaking to the public's general mistrust of government, more
than half the country (54 percent) would prefer marijuana, if legalized,
be sold by private businesses, while 36 percent would rather see the
government handle it, based on the poll results.
A birds eye view of Mendocino county, California.
But Americans are not eager to invest in a marijuana company.
Three-quarters of respondents said they would not be interested in
investing in a private company that sold marijuana, should it become
legal. However, if a company in which they currently owned shares were
to venture into the marijuana business, most Americans, 48 percent, said
it would have no effect on their investment.
Americans' opposition softened when asked about limited legal use for
for medical purposes. Sixty percent support the legalization of small
amounts for such a purpose. About half that amount, 28 percent, oppose
the idea. Yet roughly three-fourths of the country believes marijuana
has a real medical benefit.
Nevertheless, the poll results indicated a good portion of people in the
country have concerns about the health effects of the drug. More of the
people surveyed believed marijuana would harm the overall health of the
country (46 percent). Thirty-nine percent thought it would have no
effect. And 13 percent believed marijuana legalization for any use would
mostly improve the health of the people.
The idea that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that pushes people on to
harder, destructive drugs, received some support in the poll (39
percent), though nearly half the country believes marijuana has no
effect on whether people will use more serious drugs.
The AP-CNBC poll showed Americans are divided on whether the cost of
enforcing current marijuana laws is acceptable, with 45 percent telling
pollsters the cost is too high, and 48 percent deeming it acceptable. As
for crime? Again, major divisions:
If the sale and possession of marijuana were made legal,
* 34 percent say it will increase crime
* 32 percent it will reduce crime
* 33 percent say it will have no effect on crime
* 1 percent did not know
Interestingly, the country is nearly equally divided on whether
marijuana should be regulated more heavily than alcohol.
While 43 percent of the population believes marijuana regulations should
be stricter than regulations for alcohol, more of those surveyed-44
percent-said marijuana and alcohol should share the same level of
regulation. Just 12 percent told pollsters regulations on marijuana
should be less strict than those for alcohol.
The AP-CNBC poll was conducted April 7-12, 2010, and has a
margin-of-error factor of plus/minus 4.3 percent.
(c) 2010 CNBC.com
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