Sorry, Potheads: Majority Still Against Legalizing

But majority back medicinal use
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 20, 2010 2:00 AM CDT
Updated Apr 20, 2010 7:48 AM CDT
Sorry, Potheads: Majority Still Against Legalizing
Magic Ellingson, alias Henry Hemp, smells a marijuana plant at the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo on last weekend in Daly City, Calif.   (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Enjoy your 4/20, stoners, but the cold reality is that a majority of Americans believe only sick people should be allowed to smoke (or otherwise ingest) marijauna. In a new AP-CNBC poll, 55% of those surveyed oppose full legalization, while only 33% are in favor. Some 60% favor allowing medical use. But cheer up: Of those under 30, 54% support full legalization, with opposition increasing with age.

Democrats and independent voters are about evenly split on legalization, while 69% of Republicans are against it. Men are more pro-legalization than women, and city dwellers more in favor than their rural and suburban counterparts. Three-quarters of people believe the drug has real medical benefits, the poll found, and most don't believe legalization will cause an increase in crime or result in more people taking harder drugs.
(More marijuana legalization stories.)

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