Gallup Poll: Support for Legalizing Marijuana Reaches Historic Threshold

The latest Gallup poll found a record breaking 58% of Americans support making marijuana legal, with only 39 % opposed.  Support for legalization has jumped an extraordinary 10 percentage points since last November when Colorado and Washington State legalized marijuana. These results are consistent with other state and national polls, both public and private, in recent months.

Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, released the following statement:

“The latest poll results point to the absurdity and even venality of persisting with harsh prohibitionist policies,” said Ethan Nadelmann.  “No other law is enforced so harshly and pervasively yet deemed unnecessary by so many Americans.  Spending billions of dollars and arresting roughly 750,000 people annually for violating marijuana laws now represents not just foolish public policy but also an inappropriate and indecent use of police powers to favor one side of a cultural and political debate.”

For info on the Gallup Poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/165539/first-time-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines%20-%20Politics