Record High Poll Numbers of the Day: According to a new Gallup poll published today, 50% of American are in favor of legalizing marijuana, marking the first time more people were for legalization than were against it since Gallup started asking the question in 1969.
To compare, in the first poll to feature the question, only 12% of respondents favored legalization.
Support has climbed steadily since, surpassing 40 percent for the first time just two years ago. According to the poll numbers, legalization support is highest in the West, where 55% favor it. Similarly, liberals (69%), young people (62%), and men (55%) outnumbered their demographic counterparts.
Medical marijuana is currently legal in 16 states, and 16.7 million Americans 12 or older admitted to using the drug in a 2009 federal survey — a number that has risen every year since 2002.
“It’s very hard to argue on a medical basis that herbal cannabis or marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol,” said Cannibanomics author Dr. Christopher Glenn Fichtner. “The idea is that regulation offers the opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of access to specific products.”
[msnbc.]