A new poll released Monday shows support for legalizing marijuana has reached a record high in the United States, although support for it does not have a majority.

According to the results of a Gallup Poll, 44 percent of Americans say they support the outright legalization of cannabis, while 54 percent were in favor of keeping it illegal.

The poll results were released on the same day the U.S. Justice Department announced it will not prosecute anyone following state laws regarding medical marijuana use and distribution.

"As more and more Americans come to realize that marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol, more are arriving at the conclusion that it ought to be made legal for responsible adult use," Mason Tvert, a marijuana proponent, stated in a news release. "After all, it makes very little sense for adults to be punished simply for making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol for recreation and relaxation."

Tvert, who co-authored the book Marijuana Is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? says cannabis is far less toxic, far less addictive and far less problematic than alcohol.

It's already been a big week in marijuana. Yesterday, the Obama administration issued new, less strident rules about medical-marijuana, prompting Colorado Attorney General and anti-pot crusader John Suthers to demand tighter regulations on dispensaries. Meanwhile, 44 percent of respondents to a new Gallup poll advocated legalization of marijuana across the board. Granted, 54 percent still opposed it -- but the legalize-it numbers are up 8 percent in just four years.

All of which gives Mason Tvert -- head of SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) and the driving force behind a 2005 measure legalizing small amounts of marijuana in Denver -- plenty to talk about. And talk he does. About Suthers, for instance, Tvert says, "It's unfortunate that he's meddling in the healthcare decisions between doctors and patients. We hope that he will respect the voters of this state and the decisions being made by patients and doctors in accordance with state law."

A pro-marijuana organization is calling on superstar cyclist Lance Armstrong to end his new endorsement deal with beer giant Anheuser-Busch because it promotes the use of a substance far more harmful and cancer-causing than marijuana — alcohol.

Denver-based Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), which believes marijuana is safer than alcohol, says it is irresponsible of Armstrong to promote a substance that has been directly linked to several forms of cancer.

The organization is also calling the USA Cycling team member’s deal hypocritical, particularly in light of USA Swimming’s treatment of team member Michael Phelps, who was punished when photos surfased of the Olympian using marijuana.

New study explores possible benefits of marijuana for binge drinkers

Before you down that fifth shot of Jägermeister, you might want to fire up a joint. Research shows that compared with alcohol, marijuana causes less brain damage.   

In a study completed at the University of California, San Diego, the results of which were published in the current issue of the scientific journal “Neurotoxicology and Teratology,” researchers examined the white brain matter of 42 teenage participants. The participants were placed into three groups: those classified as binge drinkers (defined in this case as males who consume five or more drinks in one sitting and females who consume four or more), binge drinkers who also smoked marijuana “regularly” and a control group of those who neither drank nor smoked.  

Many times, when students tell stories of friends being rushed to the hospital or causing serious injury to themselves or someone else, they are talking about alcohol overdoses. But that isn’t always the case.

A new nationwide campus tour advocating increased awareness of marijuana use and student safety made its way to the campus yesterday. Mason Tvert, the executive director of the Colorado-based Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), came to the university to promote public discourse on the taboo subject of which recreational drug — marijuana or alcohol — causes more harm to young people.

Standing in front of the Administration building yesterday morning, he held a sign emblazoned with a quote from university President Dan Mote: “Virtually every sexual assault is associated with alcohol abuse.” Mote told The Washington Post last year. “Almost every assault of any kind is related to drinking.”

More than one-half of Americans now believe that smoking marijuana is less dangerous than drinking alcohol. That's according to the results of a just-released national telephone poll of 1,000 likely voters by Rasmussen Reports.

By contrast, just 19 percent of respondents said that they believed that pot is more dangerous than alcohol.

The public has it right. The law, which results in the arrest of some 800,000 Americans for marijuana violations annually, has it wrong.