Pubdate: Tue, 11 Feb 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

COLORADO SPLIT ON LEGAL POT

Half Still Support Marijuana Legalization but Have
Doubts

More than half of Coloradans say marijuana legalization has been bad
for the state's image, even though a majority also continues to
support the new laws, according to a poll released Monday.

Fifty-one percent of Coloradans surveyed for a Quinnipiac University
poll said they thought legalization has been bad for Colorado's image.
However, 58 percent of people said they continue to support marijuana
legalization. That's even more than the 54 percent of people who told
Quinnipiac pollsters last summer they supported legalization.

Amendment 64, the law that legalized marijuana use for people 21 and
over in Colorado, passed in November 2012, with 55 percent voting for
it.

Despite the support for legalization, the poll finds Coloradans are
more tepid on marijuana use.

Ten percent of those surveyed said they had used marijuana since
recreational pot shops opened in January. According to Quinnipiac, all
survey participants were over 18. That use figure matches almost
exactly with what federal researchers found for over-18 use inColorado
in 2011 and 2012 as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Only 17 percent of those surveyed said they would be somewhat or very
likely to try marijuana brownies if a friend brought them to a party.
Seventy percent said they would be very unlikely to try them.

Overall, 51 percent of those surveyed said they had used marijuana at
some point in their lives.

Survey participants also were conflicted about marijuana home growing.
Nearly three-quarters of those polled said they wouldn't mind if their
neighbors grew marijuana at home. But 81 percent said they don't think
people should be allowed to grow more than 12 plants at home.

"Coloradans don't mind if their neighbors grow a little grass in their
living room, but the prospect of big-time grow houses next door is a
turnoff," Tim Malloy, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute, said in a statement accompanying the
poll's release.

More than half of Coloradans say they approve of the way Gov. John
Hickenlooper is handling marijuana policy, though that support mostly
comes from Democrats. Only 48 percent of independents support
Hickenlooper's marijuana policies, and only 32 percent of Republicans
do.

The finding fits with the overall partisan schism in the poll.
Republicans were the only political affiliation to say they oppose
marijuana legalization, and 73 percent of them think legalization has
been bad for Colorado's image. Republicans also were least likely to
say they had ever used marijuana or had used marijuana since Jan. 1.

For the poll, Quinnipiac surveyed 1,139 registered Colorado voters via
both land-line telephone and cellphones. The poll has a margin of
error of 2.9 percentage points.

Earlier this month, Quinnipiac released a poll showing that 3 percent
of Coloradans consider marijuana policy the most important issue for
them in deciding how to vote in this year's governor's race. While
that's a relatively small portion- 12 percent of people said the
economy was the most important issue - marijuana did come out ahead of
issues like health care, the environment, abortion, government
spending and the candidate's trustworthiness.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D