Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gallup Poll: 50 Percent of Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana
Brian Koenig ^ | 10/17/11 | Brian Koenig

Posted on 10/17/2011 7:00:16 PM PDT by Freemarkets101

According to a new Gallup poll, a record-high 50 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana use, while 46 percent say marijuana use should remain illegal. When Gallup first posed the question, in 1969, a mere 12 percent of Americans favored it, while 84 percent were opposed. For good or for worse, times have definitely changed.

1969-2011 Trend: Support for Making Use of Marijuana Legal

Gallup's "Bottom Line" ponders that if the current trend on marijuana legalization continues, "pressure may build to bring the nation's laws into compliance with the people's wishes."

Not right now it won't. In my opinion, this shift in popular opinion means jack for the political scene - at least for right now - and it surely doesn't strike any urgent chord for the current lineup of GOP presidential contenders (even though Ron Paul may quietly favor the notion).

I'm thinking at this juncture, stimulating job growth in America is the number one priority. Maybe once everyone is gainfuly employed and bathing in economic bliss, that's when we will all dust off the old college paraphernalia.

For now, I think the only people who would prefer a bag of grass over a 40-hour work week are those Marxist marching degenerates who somehow think they are "Occupying" Wall Street.


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: libertarians; medicalmarijuana; wod; wodlist
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last

1 posted on 10/17/2011 7:00:20 PM PDT by Freemarkets101
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

“... a record-high 50 percent of Americans...”

You got that right...now the opiate of the masses can be the opiate of the masses.


2 posted on 10/17/2011 7:02:45 PM PDT by jessduntno (Obama shanks. America tanks.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

This helps me understand how the hell Barack the Kenyan managed to get himself elected to the Presidency of the United States of America.


3 posted on 10/17/2011 7:04:22 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Stop Government Greed Now!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101
All of my pals certainly do!


4 posted on 10/17/2011 7:08:28 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

What percentage of the country voted for Obama in 2008?


5 posted on 10/17/2011 7:14:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Reality is for people who can't face up to hard drugs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: FlingWingFlyer

He didn’t even keep his promise to leave pot alone, however.


6 posted on 10/17/2011 7:16:22 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

52% of those who cast a presidential vote in 2008, chose Obama.

IMHO, this is not so much because Obama was so wonderful (under the surface) but because Bush and McCain were lame in pushing the GOP brand. So lame that McCain said “there is nothing to fear from a President Obama.” Maybe in the context he meant that Obama’s race of itself meant nothing dangerous, but it got taken as a general statement.

Giving the Federal nod to 50-state medpot farming and dispensing (at the option of and under the individual regulation of each state) would take most of the wind out of Mexican narco gangs’ sails.


7 posted on 10/17/2011 7:22:32 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101
The war in drugs is a failure.

I personally hate pot. I smoked it twice in college and did not like it. It's a waste of money. It makes some people paranoid. It makes people lazy. That said if some people want to smoke it, I don't have a problem with it as long as it isn't in my house or while someone is driving.

A pot smoker isn't usually a threat to society. I don't need pot smokers to keep clogging up the judicial system because they are stupid. Do we need to give them criminal records and make them unemployable? Do we need to pay for probation officers to supervise these folks?

Legalize it, tax it, and just go after the idiots who smoke while drive.

8 posted on 10/17/2011 7:41:55 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (Perry and Cain I can support, but no Romney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101
The war in drugs is a failure.

I personally hate pot. I smoked it twice in college and did not like it. It's a waste of money. It makes some people paranoid. It makes people lazy. That said if some people want to smoke it, I don't have a problem with it as long as it isn't in my house or while someone is driving.

A pot smoker isn't usually a threat to society. I don't need pot smokers to keep clogging up the judicial system because they are stupid. Do we need to give them criminal records and make them unemployable? Do we need to pay for probation officers to supervise these folks?

Legalize it, tax it, and just go after the idiots who smoke while driving.

9 posted on 10/17/2011 7:42:17 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (Perry and Cain I can support, but no Romney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

Are these the same people who are against smoking? But I guess that’s different ....


10 posted on 10/17/2011 7:55:16 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RetiredTexasVet

I have never smoked pot or dome drugs but a, 100 percent against the war on drugs.


11 posted on 10/17/2011 7:56:37 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote (The Obama Adminstration: 2nd wave of attacks on America after 9/11)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Darren McCarty

“Legalize it, tax it, and just go after the idiots who smoke while driving. “

Would that be “a failure,” too, if all high drivers weren’t stopped?

I disagree with the premise that the WOD is a failure. I don’t know if it’s even smart to call it it a war. It is a continual fight until the end of mankind, as are the laws against all sorts of other anti-social behavior. There is no “final victory.” Drug abuse will keep cropping up. We just have to contain it as well as possible.

If “victory” means no one is now abusing drugs, well then, it’s a failure. But I think that is a ridiculous expectation for any law or value.


12 posted on 10/17/2011 7:59:32 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

I support ceasing to devote law enforcement resources devoted to throwing people in jail who are found with pot in their possession. This is a fundamental Constitutional issue that the powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved, I say again, reserved, to the states and to the PEOPLE.


13 posted on 10/17/2011 8:02:54 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

The same poll that said 100% of Americans are socialists now?

I doubt it very much.

Then again they already legalized theft when they keep voting Democrat


14 posted on 10/17/2011 8:05:00 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: theBuckwheat
This is a fundamental Constitutional issue that the powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved, I say again, reserved, to the states and to the PEOPLE.

Well they'll have to want to stop it, because the Constitution didn't stop them; In fact, the Judiciary has ruled in favor of the Federal government on this question. And half the country apparantly agrees with them. Half full? Half empty?

15 posted on 10/17/2011 8:09:10 PM PDT by Huck (TAX TEA NOW==SUPPORT 9-9-9!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101
Legalize maryjane and half the jails would be empty.

We can't have that! Jails and prisons are BIG, BIG businesses and provide a lot of unionized cop type jobs like sheriffs and deputies who guard the inmates.

16 posted on 10/17/2011 8:14:25 PM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jessduntno

It should be legal. I’m with WFB (RIP) on this one. We should have learned our lesson during the prohibition era, instead we feed insane profits to the drug cartels, the modern day equivelent to the gangsters that peddled illegal alchol.


17 posted on 10/17/2011 8:14:51 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Darren McCarty

bttt


18 posted on 10/17/2011 8:22:03 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Freemarkets101

Well, I don’t support the legalization but I DO support leaving it up to the states, just like alcohol, etc. If the state legalizes it, the Feds should stay out of it.


19 posted on 10/17/2011 8:22:21 PM PDT by RIghtwardHo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Persevero
I can get pot in 15 minutes or less, but the failure isn't just the prevention of drugs. It's the freedoms we all give up in the name of the war on drugs.

The Patriot Act's worst provisions originated from that. Gonzales v Raich and the commerce clause expansion was a drugs case. To me, the "cure" is 100 times worse than the disease. I'd rather have more pot smokers than more criminal records, tax money in enforcement, and freedoms lost. Pot's not heroin or meth.

20 posted on 10/17/2011 8:27:56 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (Perry and Cain I can support, but no Romney)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson