Pubdate: Sat, 08 Nov 2014
Source: Daily Home, The (Talladega,  AL)
Copyright: 2014 Consolidated Publishing
Contact:  http://www.dailyhome.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1632
Note:  also listed as contact
Author: Evan Halper, Tribune Times
Page: 3

SUPPORT FOR LEGAL POT DOWN OFF ITS HIGH

Even as the national experiment legalizing recreational pot spread 
this week to Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., a new poll suggests 
the enthusiasm among voters has hit a plateau.

A majority, 51 percent, favors legalizing marijuana, according to a 
Gallup poll. That's about where support has been since 2011, but a 
drop from the 58 percent who told Gallup last year they supported 
legalization. Last year's poll came just after Colorado and Oregon 
had voted to allow marijuana to be sold in stores and were in the 
process of setting up the market.

Since the last poll, marijuana stores have opened their doors in 
those states and some parts of the rollout have been bumpy. Gallup's 
analysts wrote in a blog post that public support may have been 
weakened by several unwelcome headlines in Colorado around the sale 
of pot-infused candies, cookies and other sweets that would appeal to children.

But other factors could also explain why support for legalization 
appears to have hit a plateau after a decade of steady increases, Gallup said.

What appeared to be a surge of support last year came at a time of 
great momentum in the marijuana movement, and supporters were 
preparing to put legalization on the ballot in California and other 
states in 2014. When they opted to wait another two years in most 
places, that momentum slowed, as did discussion of the political 
movement in the press.

"The relative lack of attention to new legalization initiatives 
through 2014 may have caused public support to subside," the Gallup 
analysts wrote.

Legalization advocates say the drop was expected.

The surge of support Gallup reported last year "was something of an 
outlier," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy 
Alliance. He attributed it to the poll's timing, noting it was 
conducted just after the Obama administration gave Washington and 
Colorado the green light to proceed with implementing their 
initiatives and "before media began to focus on the actual challenges 
of transforming a previously illegal, unregulated market into a 
legal, regulated one."

Support for legalization varies widely from one part of the country 
to another. It is particularly strong on the West Coast and 
Northeast. Those are the areas organizers are planning to target for 
a series of legalization initiatives in 2016.

Solid majorities of 57 percent still support legalization in the 
coastal states.

Pot is a much tougher sell in the Midwest and the South, where 
supporters of legalization are in the minority. In the Midwest, 
support plunged 13 points since last year and now stands at 45 
percent. In the South, 47 percent support legalization, the poll found.

Cannabis advocates are also having a tough time converting 
conservatives, despite their success in Alaska, a GOP stronghold, and 
their contention that marijuana legalization is not a partisan issue. 
The weak support among conservatives - 31 percent favor legalization 
- - does not bode well for their plans to gradually shift the fight 
from the states to Congress, which will soon be entirely controlled 
by the Republicans.

Opponents of marijuana, eager to rebound from losses Tuesday in 
Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia, say they are encouraged 
by Gallup's findings.

"This poll shows that legalization is far from inevitable and the 
fight to stop it is far from over," said a statement from Kevin A. 
Sabet, president of advocacy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

"In 2014, marijuana stores opened in Colorado and Washington, and 
that is right when support plummeted. The lesson here is that 
legalization in theory does not look like legalization in practice."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom