For the first time, support for legalization of marijuana crosses the 50% threshold

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For the first time, support for legalization of marijuana crosses the 50% threshold

Year after year, support for marijuana legalization has been gradually increasing, and according a new Gallup poll, just over 50% of Americans are now in support of marijuana legalization, the first time support has passed the halfway point.

The support for legalized marijuana use has continued to climb since Gallup first began asking questions about it in 1969. Then, only 12 percent of Americans supported legalization, with 84 percent opposed. Throughout the late 1970s into the 1990s support for legalization remained in the mid 20-percent range, with it passing 30 percent in 2000 and 40 percent in 2009.

The latest poll shows that support for legalized pot is highest in the West (55 percent), among liberals (69 percent), younger Americans (62 percent), and men (55 percent). Dr. Christopher Glenn Fichtner, author of “Cannibanomics,’” appeared Monday on The Dylan Ratigan show, where he spoke about the potential benefits of legalizing marijuana. He endorsed the California Medical Association’s decision last week to call for legalization of the drug, but with regulations similar to alcohol and tobacco.

“There are numerous products on the market that have risk,” Fichtner said, citing alcohol as one example. “It’s very hard to argue on a medical basis that herbal cannabis or marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol,” he said.

“The idea is that regulation offers the opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of access to specific products.” He also blames marijuana prohibition for “playing a major role in the initial criminalization, the initiation into the criminal justice system for a very large number of ordinary American citizens.” The Gallup survey was based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 6-9, 2011, with a random sample of 1,005 adults.

Via