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Pot in Washington State, by themadpothead on Flickr
A poll released last week by The Washington Poll, a quarterly, nonpartisan effort by the University of Washington, shows that Washington State residents support an initiative that would legalize the possession and use of marijuana.
According to the poll of 1,252 registered voters conducted last month, 52% in Washington State support “removing state civil and criminal penalties for possession or use of marijuana,” with only 35% opposed. The poll’s release did not indicate the position of the other 13%.
The language of the poll question is identical similarly phrased as the wording that would appear on the ballot. You can see the full findings of the statewide poll, in which the marijuana question was included, at the bottom of this post. (Updated at bottom.)
Unlike California, where marijuana legalization will definitely be on the November ballot, it’s less certain Washington’s initiative will make the cut. Sensible Washington is the group organizing ballot signatures for the measure (officially known as I-1068). The group, independently financed and run by a tight group of organizers, is on its way to qualifying for the ballot.
Prohibition proponents are doing their best to keep legalization off the ballot in the state. We reported last week that federally funded drug agents disobeyed a standing order from Attorney General Eric Holder and raided a legitimate medical marijuana dispensary. In the course of that raid, agents pointed a gun at the head of a 14-year-old child and confiscated Sensible Washington’s petitions to put legalization on the ballot. Then the federal agents photocopied the petitions, keeping the names and addresses of Washington residents who support legalization.
This was a clear act of intimidation designed to scare potential supporters of legalization from signing on to petitions. Knowing that police with have information of supporters is more than enough to suppress people from exercising their democratic rights.
If you want to help Sensible Washington get legalization on the ballot, head over to their site and use the Firedoglake-powered event tool to find volunteer information and petition gathering events across the state using the tool on the right side of their site.
If you’re not in Washington, sign our petition for federally-funded drug agents to release Sensible Washington’s petitions and to destroy all photocopies.
(Update note from above: While not identical language, both the poll and initiative use the phrase “remove state civil and criminal penalties.” The poll ended that phrase with “for use or possession of marijuana,” while the initiative itself elaborates: “for persons eighteen years or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana. Marijuana would no longer be defined as a ‘controlled substance.”)
The Washington Poll Survey Results
1,252 respondents, 2.8% MOE. May 2010.
7 Comments
One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to the ongoing open season on hippies, commies, and non-whites in the war on drugs. Cops get good performance reviews for shooting fish in a barrel. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.
The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as lives are flushed down expensive tubes. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. Behold, it’s all good. When Eve ate the apple, she knew a good apple, and an evil prohibition. Canadian Marc Emery is being extradited to prison for helping American farmers reduce U. S. demand for Mexican pot.
The CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) reincarnates Al Capone, endangers homeland security, and throws good money after bad. Fiscal policy burns tax dollars to root out the number-one cash crop in the land, instead of taxing sales. Society rejected the plague of prohibition, but it mutated. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment.
Nixon passed the CSA on the false assurance that the Schafer Commission would later justify criminalizing his enemies, but he underestimated Schafer’s integrity. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA shut down research, and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use. Former U.K. chief drugs advisor Prof. Nutt was sacked for revealing that non-smoked cannabis intake is scientifically healthy.
The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership or an act of Congress to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. God’s children’s free exercise of religious liberty may include entheogen sacraments to mediate communion with their maker.
Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.
Common-law holds that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers undersigned that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration. Liberty is prerequisite for tracking drug-use intentions and outcomes.
52% approve.
The same percent as approve of the immigration law in Arizona which requires police to question people they suspect are illegal immigrants.
Some poll results are good, and some are not so good.
In November, Arizonans will voting on medicinal marijuana. This issue was placed on the ballot by Initiative and accomplished with petitions that contained over 252,000 signatures. The minimum number of signatures to qualify for the ballot was 145,700 signature.
Now, the “pollution propaganda” will commence.
Jaango
Please, impart more of your wisdom to us.
Can you name the officers involved in this raid? They shouldn’t be allowed to remain nameless masked figures. They’ve abused their power and should be called on the carpet for it.
I would add my comment that Cannabis is much safer than alcohol and most controlled prescription drugs in terms of potential for overdose, creation of a dependency or organ damage. Just recently such popular drugs as Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl were “recalled” due to potential serious, even fatal, side effects. And yet, there is an active disinformation campaign going on with respect to “medical Cannabis”.
Also, I would comment that Cannabis use has been shown to suppress violent behavior (Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, 4-th Edition, page 267), and this is extremely important from the point of view of the individual, as well as public, safety.
Since Cannabis use suppresses violence by inducing a calm, relaxed state and also improves the “negative affective state” that many people occasionally have, its use may also prove to be a “barrier”, rather than “gateway” to alcohol and hard drug use.
I would also comment that Anti-Cannabis laws on this country seem to encourage young people to experiment with alcohol and/or hard drugs for the simple reason that Cannabis, which is much less dangerous, can be detected in drug testing for much longer than, say, heroin, other opiates, cocaine, or methamphetamines.
This is why many people may tend to try those hard drugs with very high “addiction liability” and then get addicted. This is the true story behind the so-called “gateway drug” theory.
Removing marijuana from the same group with heroin and cocaine will finally send the right message to young people as to the dangers of the latter, or otherwise some people may assume that cocaine, heroin, other opiates or methamphetamines are JUST AS dangerous (or non-dangerous) as Cannabis, while they are infinitely more dangerous.
I believe we need to show the public BENEFIT from legalizing Cannabis, not just the absence of harm. I further believe that stressing Cannabis potential to suppress violence and, hopefully, curb the hard drug abuse and addiction is a PUBLIC SAFETY issue, and we are on the right side of it!
Hope you come back around doctork, this would make a great diary over at The Seminal
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/post