FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Contact: Violet Cavendish
vcavendish@mpp.org

Statement below from the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest marijuana policy organization, which is supporting initiative campaigns to end marijuana prohibition in five states in 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. —­ A Gallup poll released Wednesday shows 58% of adults in the United States think marijuana should be made legal, up from 51% in October 2014. Just 40% think it should remain illegal.

The national poll of 1,015 adults was conducted October 7-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. The full results are available at http://www.gallup.com/poll/186260/back-legal-marijuana.aspx.

Four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington — have adopted laws making marijuana legal for adults and establishing systems in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. It is legal for adults to possess and grow limited amounts of marijuana in the District of Columbia.

Voters in Ohio are considering a ballot measure this November that would legalize and regulate marijuana for medical and adult use. An initiative to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol has qualified for the November 2016 ballot in Nevada, and similar initiatives are expected to appear on ballots in Arizona, California, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Statement from Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project:

“It’s pretty clear which direction our nation is heading on this issue. The status quo has shifted. Marijuana prohibition has been a public policy disaster, and most Americans are ready to put it behind us and move on. The effects of 80-plus years of anti-marijuana propaganda are slowly wearing off. Once people realize that marijuana is actually safer than alcohol, they tend to agree that adults should not be punished just for consuming it.

“People can see that legalizing and regulating marijuana is going quite well in states like Colorado and Washington. They see the sky hasn’t fallen and that regulation works, and they want to take similar steps forward in their states. We will likely see at least a handful of states pass these laws over the next year or so.”

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Founded in 1995, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the nation’s leading cannabis policy reform organization. MPP has played a central role in passing dozens of cannabis policy reforms in states across the country, including 14 successful cannabis legalization campaigns, and also works to advance federal reforms.

Visit www.mpp.org for more information.