Trend toward legalization of marijuana in the US public opinion polls 1969-2009
I’ve been analyzing polls from the past forty years to find the trend in support of marijuana legalization. Barring any major shift in public attitude, it looks as though we might have majority support by the 2012 presidential election.
The trendline is simply the linear result of plugging all those numbers into Excel. We see a drop in support during the Carter and Reagan Administrations, but then a rapid increase in support in the first Bush and Clinton Administrations. Average it all out and we go from about 15% support forty years ago to about 40% support today. Looking to the next election, support would be at about 42%. This puts majority support at around 2028… just in time for Chelsea Clinton to run! (Kidding!)
However, if you throw a triple-polynomial trendline at the numbers, to account for the rise-fall-rise shape of the data points, the rapid increase builds momentum and majority support is reached by the next election in 2012.
No matter how you slice it, with my best-case prediction of majority support by 2012; worst-case by 2028, that means over the next five presidential elections, the marijuana legalization question is going to be asked more frequently, and those who oppose it will gain less support.
i had seizure today because my loving state share the great law of no medical marijuana i took my pills had no smoke for week straight now i have one since longest time haven’t no friend cares help drop little bit smoke help even when got call from friend he woke me from it was in and out convo i love side effects depakote zonisamde fluoxinte might be some reasons legalization
If anything marijuana should be legalized and alcohol should be made illegal. I
believe that hard core drugs like cocain, meth, heroin, etc, should all stay
illegal, but marijuana is not a “hard core” drug. Alcohol is much worse than
marijuana and we have legalized it. Here’s some facts to support my statement.
There are hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths each year, yet there has
never been a marijuana overdose death in history.
-Excessive alcohol
consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States
and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver
cirrhosis, various cancers, and violence.
-Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.
(20
percent of alcohol-related traffic deaths involve blood alcohol concentration
levels below .10 percent.)
-If an alcoholic suddenly withdraws
from alcohol, he or she may suffer delirium tremens. D.T.s sometimes end in
death.
-Many people who apparently die from overdoses of sleeping pills
(barbiturates), actually die from a combination of alcohol and the medication.
-One quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all
suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence
are alcohol related.
-Between 48 and 64 percent of people who die in
fires have blood alcohol levels indicating intoxication.
-Alcohol is
abused by some 14 million Americans and contributes to the deaths of 100,000
each year.
-According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, 65 percent of fatal drunk-driving deaths involve drivers whose
blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .15 or higher.
-The risk of
hemorrhagic stroke is three times higher among heavy drinkers.
-Large amounts of alcohol (such as a quart if drunk in five to thirty minutes)
may occasionally cause death by anesthetizing the brain center that controls
breathing.
-About 20 percent of those people who commit suicide are
alcohol abusers, according to the National Mental Health Association.
-About 20 percent of suicide victims are alcoholics.
-Alcohol is
clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct
intoxication-violence relationship. Cannabis reduces likelihood of violence
during intoxication… Source: Hoaken, Peter N.S., Sherry H. Stewart. Journal of
Addictive Behaviors. 28, pages 1533-1554. Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of
human aggressive behavior. Dept. of Psychology, University of Western Ontario.
Dept. of of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University.
There are some physical
health risks, particularly the possibility of damage to the airways in cannabis
smokers. Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for ‘recreational’
purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug. Source: Iversen,
Leslie. Current Opinion in Pharmacology. Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2005, Pages
69-72. Long-term effects of exposure to cannabis. University of Oxford,
Department of Pharmacology.
The latest and most comprehensive research
on marijuana has concluded that it does not contribute to the development of
lung cancer. Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…...
There has never been a documented case of lung cancer in a
marijuana-only smoker, and recent studies find that marijuana use is not
associated with any type of cancer. The same cannot be said for alcohol, which
has been found to contribute to a variety of long-term negative health effects,
including cancers and cirrhosis of the liver.
Well Radical Russ I see that your prediction was correct. Now let’s hope for the best in the year to come. But I think we are going to have to get up in the mid 60% range before we start to see any real big changes.
i bet you drink beer and smoke cigerattes cig causes cancer and beer liver disease know body ever got up after smoking a fat one and went out a killed somebody with there car most people after smoking want 2 eat and lay there old lady down
Legalize it you fools! You’re only hurting yourselves! I could have swore I lived in the home of the free?
What I do in my home should be my business. If I’m not hurting others, then what’s the problem? By beng able to grow a few plants, I would be cutting out money that would possibly be going to fuel terrorism. Think America! It’s not going to go away! The upcoming election year should be the year of total domestic legalization.