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Drug War Chronicle: Support for Legalizing and Taxing Marijuana at 49% in Colorado |
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Written by Phil Smith
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Friday, 28 May 2010 |
At the same time Colorado
legislators were approving a bill to impose new restrictions on medical
marijuana dispensaries, a near majority of Colorado voters were telling
the Rasmussen Report poll they favor legalizing and
taxing pot. Some 49% of respondents said it should be taxed and
legalized, while 39% disagreed and 13% were undecided.
As well-known Colorado marijuana activist Mason Tvert of SAFER noted in
the Huffington Post this week, legal weed is polling
higher than any of the state's contenders for the governorship or the US
Senate. No senatorial candidate is polling higher than 48% and no
gubernatorial candidate is polling higher than 47%. Tvert has already filed a legalization initiative with state
authorities, but up until now, it was seen mainly as a placeholder while
Tvert and others were looking ahead toward 2012. That could change now
-- there is still time to get on the ballot this year -- but most
experienced initiative organizers say a measure should begin with around
60% support.
The numbers are higher than in 2006, when a legalization initiative
lost with 41% of the vote. But activists would like to see them go
higher still.
Rasmussen found that most men supported legalization, while most
women did not. Democrats and independents supported legalization, while
Republicans did not.
The poll was taken May 10 and sampled 500 likely voters. The margin
of sampling error is +/- 4.5%, with a 95% level of confidence. |
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