Statement released from nation’s largest marijuana policy organization
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Pew Research Center announced today that, for the first time in its 40 years of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans (52%) support making marijuana legal. Just 45% said they think marijuana should remain illegal. Its report on the survey notes that a Gallup poll conducted in 1969 found just 12% supported making marijuana legal and 84% were opposed. Pew’s nationwide survey of 1,501 adults was conducted March 13-17.
Statement from Steve Fox, national political director for the Marijuana Policy Project:
“These results do not just represent a tipping point. With support for legalization among people under the age of 50 at close to 60 percent, this is more like the tip of the iceberg. Elected officials across the country need to listen to the people.
“Marijuana prohibition is a policy without a rational basis and without public support. It is time to regulate marijuana like alcohol so that we can generate tax revenues and focus law enforcement resources on real problems in our society.”
The Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest marijuana-policy-reform organization, has been responsible for changing most state-level marijuana laws since 2000.
For more information, visit http://www.mpp.org.
