A majority of Coloradans believe marijuana use should be legal, marking growing support since the 2012 ballot measure and two months after its legalization in the state in January.
Fifty-seven percent of Colorado voters think marijuana use should be legal, while only 35 percent think it should be illegal, according to a poll published Wednesday by Public Policy Polling.
The pollster notes that the 22-point margin shows an increase in support for legalization since the state’s ballot measure in 2012 passed by 10 points.
However, while a majority in the state favor legalization, few have yet to partake themselves in using marijuana. Only 8 percent say they’ve used the drug since it became legal in January and 89 percent say they have not used it.
Additionally, the poll shows support for gay marriage in the state has reached a record high with 56 percent supporting it and 36 percent opposing. Support for civil unions increases furthermore with 79 percent of Colorado voters supporting some sort of legal recognition for same-sex partners.
The January numbers are in and Colorado had increased revenue of over $3 million dollars, just for the month of January. You can’t beat that with a stick. They are also money ahead for not locking up people on marijuana charges. The down side has to be that more young people are moving to the state. I don’t expect them all to be young professionals with high paying jobs.
Will the numbers of users go up as more young folks immigrate to Colorado? Probably. The big question is, once other states see the money rolling in to Colorado, will they try to emulate? Is Colorado’s money earmarked for something special? How will it be spent? Is $36 million in one year a boon to a state like Colorado?
Meanwhile, the mile high city continues to be the epicenter of legal cannabis. Will it increase tourism? Probably. Will there be more pot related traffic fatalities? We hope not. Time will tell. Can we expect to see a Taco Bell on every corner? Perhaps.
Screwed up country. We go after tobacco smokers and push weed.
Who is pushing weed? You are aware that smoking, possession and growing are all illegal at the federal level?
As for tobacco, cognitive dissonance. I find it rather irresponsible to have the tobacco laws as they are while spending millions of dollars on prevention and billions in the health care industry to repair people.
Former smoker here. Many years. I speak from experience. I also have cognitive dissonance on the subject. Very mixed feelings. I miss it every day but know I can never smoke even a puff or I will have to race out to 7-11, buy a carton and I will be right back to where I was. I think the word I am searching for is addiction.
Yes, madam, I am aware. I am talking about Colorado, Washington, and any other states, like Maryland, salivating at the thought of following in their footsteps. I found the rejoicing in Colorado when it was announced that the tax on pot had garnered $3 million to be utterly disgusting. They rejoice at the loot they can put in their coffers while Americans of all ages cram crap into their brains because, apparently, they feel they lack the brain power to handle life without external stimulants? What a wonderful picture. Count this conservative in the camp of Patrick Kennedy.
Oh…and you are talking to an ex-smoker who has also awakened to that foolishness. It is tough. I know how you feel. And don’t anyone throw in a comment about that other stimulant called booze. I don’t touch that either.
I drink occasionally. I can drink without setting off the monster. I can’t smoke without setting off the addiction monster. Funny how life is in that regard. I know people who would kill to have the booze off button.
I would love to be able to smoke an occasional cigarette. I know I can’t.
I don’t know what I would call smoking or drinking foolishness. I think using that word trivializes the struggles some people have with each product. We know that prohibition does not work.
Many Americans use alcohol products responsibly and enjoy a well-made drink or a bottle of wine. The use of spirits is a tradition that crosses thousands of years. Not everyone can do it without awakening their demons. On the other hand, some folks cannot drink wine from NY state or eat lamb without setting off a gout attack either. Is that really any different?
I call the smoking “foolishness” because of what I was doing to myself and my family healthwise all those years. Perhaps I ought to call it asininity. My excuse was that I had a job which was often nerve-wracking, and the smokes seemed to help me keep cool. But I let the habit go with me into retirement. Then I woke up to reality and just quit cold turkey one day, and that was it. But there are times….well, it isn’t easy, as you well know.
Booze to me is like playing Russian roulette. But I don’t militate against it like a Carrie Nation. I just avoid touching it for personal reasons. You really never know if you will be able to control it or it will start to control you. I saw far too many people overseas who lost spouses, families, jobs, and just plain sense when they became the controlled. I found that to be downright terrible.
Pot really frosts me. I more or less looked the other way in Vietnam, where the horrors of war could drive people up the wall. But I see no excuse for wallowing in that crap here. Whatever the law says or doesn’t say, you use weed you stay away from me. You are on my sh*t list. I wouldn’t even trust you to walk the dog.
Now the kicker. I heard today that the law enforcement authorities in Loudoun have held a meeting with Attorney General Herring. The subject was heroin. It seems that we are getting a new flow of H into our county and have recently had about eight overdose cases. This appears to be part of the same wave of H affecting New York and New England and on down into Pennsylvania and Maryland. Now we have it, and I suspect PWC can look forward to it. Our LEO’s and the AG are trying to figure out how to fight this thing.
Yeah, yeah, I know all the arguments about the difference between weed and the hard stuff and about gateway or no gateway. I just find it bizarro that we are suddenly in a fight in Virginia over the stimulant heroin and in Colorado they are rejoicing at their financial windfall from selling the stimulant pot to the multitudes. I find Patrick Kennedy and his group worth listening to when they argue that the pot being peddled today is not the pot of our grandfathers in terms of content and potency.
@Wolverine,
It sounds like we have very similar stories regarding cigarettes. Same duration also. I miss it every day of my life. I love to smell second hand smoke even. Come over here and breathe it on me. Yes, it is difficult. Its a horrible, addictive habit that causes all sorts of disease for the smoker and probably for others. I miss it. I quit cold turkey also. I got sick (something lungular) and told myself I would stop because I might not ever get sick like this again and miss this opportunity I must have had a fever. Anyway, I stopped. I think I was almost too sick for a day or two to smoke but I sure gave it that old college try anyway. I also didn’t tell anyone. NO expectations.
Booze–I touch it but not often. Like I said, some people have the curse of the spirits and others don’t. I am a don’t but that doesn’t mean it can’t get you into trouble. Wolverine, you are probably wise to leave it alone. It can certainly cause problems for people. It has caused lots of problems for people close to me.
Pot–not sure how I feel. I don’t like it criminalize. I don’t necessarily want it legalized. I am just not sure how I feel about it. Know though, if it becomes legal tomorrow, I won’t be using it. I can’t smoke anything. Addict here.
I think you might be right about pot not being what it used to be. Back in the day when I was coming along, it was cut. Not sure what is going on with it now. I guess I can’t figure it out, even if I go to Colorado because of that no smoking ban on myself.
I suspect the heroin problem is due to a shortage of Oxycontin because of a reformulation that makes it harder to grind up and snort.
We have people in a lot of pain and if they are going to abuse a painkiller I’d rather it be a prescription drug or a regulated marijuana where the dosages and contents are known quantities.
P.S. I hear there are lots of foods with pot ingredients so smoking isn’t required to sample.
There you have an example of what put me personally off booze during my own overseas service. Secret Service officer, in Amsterdam to prepare for the POTUS visit, found passed out drunk in the hallway of a luxury hotel. He and two other agents were sent home. These apparently were CAT agents — the ones assigned to engage in a gunfight with any attackers while the rest of the Presidential Detail gets POTUS out of the area.
Booze is a killer of careers.
In this case it should be a killer of careers. I guess the difference between you and me, Wolverine, is that hold the secret service agents personally responsible for their own behavior. I don’t blame booze. Booze doesn’t force anyone to drink it.
I am all for firing those chaps. They knew the rules. The rules were clear cut. No alcohol 10 hours before duty. They were stupid, irresponsible and an embarrassment to their country.
You are right though about it being a killer of careers.