AMERICANS 'HIGH' ON MARIJUANA: POLL By NEIL GRAVES
America's conservative attitude toward marijuana is going up in smoke, according to a new survey.
The Time/CNN poll revealed that 72 percent of Americans now feel that people arrested with small amounts of marijuana should not do any jail time, while just 19 percent favored sending pot smokers up the river.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans still want marijuana possession to be considered a criminal offense - but 34 percent now favor complete legalization.
A survey in 1986 found that 78 percent opposed legalization, while only 18 percent supported it.
The new poll also offered good news to activists and lawmakers who are calling for the legalization of medical marijuana: 80 percent of those surveyed said they favored dispensing pot for medicinal purposes.
The 19 states that either allow medical marijuana or have reduced sentences to virtually nothing have been riding a wave of increasing pot use throughout the general public, the survey showed. Forty-seven percent of those polled in those states said they smoked pot at least once.
The issue of decriminalizing marijuana is on the front burner in several states where initiatives are on ballots next week.