Poll: Legalize it?

[Independent]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

According to Gallup, legalizing is more popular with people who are: young, male, college educated, "liberal", non-religious, democrats, and westerners. I don't think that we have an unusual number of any of those groups on this forum. (Maybe more college grads, but an older average age.)

Any theories?

Who Supports Marijuana Legalization?

 

[ziggy29]

Just to clarify my remark above, there would be one significant difference to how we should treat MJ compared to alcohol -- an absolute 100% ban on its usage in ALL public venues. It would only be allowed in private locations which are not "open to the public."

 

[noworkethic]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

According to Gallup, legalizing is more popular with people who are: young, male, college educated, "liberal", non-religious, democrats, and westerners. I don't think that we have an unusual number of any of those groups on this forum. (Maybe more college grads, but an older average age.)

Any theories?

I suspect that the folks on this forum are brighter and more rational than the average US citizen,

 

[Purron]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

According to Gallup, legalizing is more popular with people who are: young, male, college educated, "liberal", non-religious, democrats, and westerners. I don't think that we have an unusual number of any of those groups on this forum. (Maybe more college grads, but an older average age.)

Any theories?

Who Supports Marijuana Legalization?

I too was surprised by the results of this poll. One thought that comes to mind is many of us are non-conformists as shown by our desire to leave the structured work environment. We don't like people telling us what to do and how to live our lives. I believe many here who support legalization never used pot and wouldn't start if it was legal - they just don't like the idea of goverment interference in the personal lives of people.

 

[ziggy29]

I too was surprised by the results of this poll. One thought that comes to mind is many of us are non-conformists as shown by our desire to leave the structured work environment. We don't like people telling us what to do and how to live our lives. I believe many here who support legalization never used pot and wouldn't start if it was legal - they just don't like the idea of goverment interference in the personal lives of people.

I've never touched the stuff in my life -- not even a single puff -- not even in high school and college, and I have no desire to do so. The closest I've ever come to "using" was getting a few whiffs of the smoke at concerts in my younger days.

I suspect our majority "attitude" is simply that we are well-informed adults who feel capable of making our own personal choices AND willing to be held personally responsible for the choices we make. What I find particularly refreshing here is that this seems to go beyond the usual ideological/political lines and people who are often disagreeing about public policy matters are agreeing here.

 

[Sarah in SC]

We'll know for sure, Zig, if a whole bunch of us vanish when E-R.org has the first "online drug test before posting" feature enabled.

 

[HFWR]

I've never touched the stuff in my life...

Yeah, me too...

I don't look at it as a "liberal" issue. To me, it's the quintessential conservative/libertarian issue. Who is the government to tell you what to smoke, who to screw, what to read, whether you can use birth control?

 

[MichaelB]

I agree. "Decriminalize" means no change to the status quo other than that there will be no more criminal prosecution related to it (perhaps with some exceptions such as sale to minors and such).

If we're going to do that, we might as well also tax it and regulate its sale -- treat it much the same as alcohol, as others have mentioned -- and put some of the drug gangs out of the MJ business. But as I've said, I'd like to see this rolled out (no pun intended) on a small scale, at the state level, just in case the genie needs to remain in the bottle elsewhere.

The intent of "decriminalize" is to separate use or consumption from production and distribution for purposes of this discussion and attempt to establish something all can agree with.

There is no doubt that the consequences of the criminal part of illegal drug trade lead one to favor the all encompassing legalization.

There is a strong and quite legitimate argument to be made that all drug use should be discouraged with maximum effort. Looking back to times when drugs and alcohol were widely available and not unlawful, large numbers of people consumed regularly and they were often used to exploit or control. Our schoolbooks do not record this ugly part of our history but it was quite tragic for many, especially children. The introduction of distilled liquor in the UK had a similar effect - as did opium use in China.

I don't have my terms mixed up. I think we should decriminalize use - stop prosecuting users. Regarding production and distribution, I am not so clear. Alcohol is not decriminalized - we prosecute underage users - its production and distribution is licensed and regulated, but harmful consumption, such as binge drinking, is quite common, and seems to be much greater than controlled or social drinking among the young.

Regarding production and distribution, I have doubts but lean toward permitting but licensing. This hopefully deprives the criminal world from a source of revenue and shuts down one of those "shady areas" where good folk get hurt for making little mistakes. Still, I acknowledge that this part of the discussion is much more challenging.

 

[bssc]

I've never touched the stuff in my life -- not even a single puff -- not even in high school and college, and I have no desire to do so. The closest I've ever come to "using" was getting a few whiffs of the smoke at concerts in my younger days.

Same here. And I have lived in countries where it was legal but I would rather have my tax dollars spent elsewhere.

 

[Westernskies]

... people who are: young, male, college educated, "liberal", non-religious, democrats, and westerners. I don't think that we have an unusual number of any of those groups on this forum.

...what have you been smoking?

 

[grumpy]

Just to clarify my remark above, there would be one significant difference to how we should treat MJ compared to alcohol -- an absolute 100% ban on its usage in ALL public venues. It would only be allowed in private locations which are not "open to the public."

What, no contact high? Too bad.

 

[donheff]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

I agree with the posters who attribute this to the generally brighter nature of folks here. I also think a lot of the people here who sound the most conservative lean libertarian.

 

[Independent]

Thanks for the replies on "what's different about this group?"

I was vaguely thinking along the same lines - people here are typically self-directed investors, LBYM'ers, uncomfortable with the structures of many j*bs. All those things reflect an independent (maybe even thoughtful) mindset.

In addition, donheff's comment on "conservatives" vs. "libertarians" hadn't occurred to me, but I think he is on to something when I think about the posts I've read here.

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks for the replies on "what's different about this group?"

I was vaguely thinking along the same lines - people here are typically self-directed investors, LBYM'ers, uncomfortable with the structures of many j*bs. All those things reflect an independent (maybe even thoughtful) mindset.

In addition, donheff's comment on "conservatives" vs. "libertarians" hadn't occurred to me, but I think he is on to something when I think about the posts I've read here.

Probably are a lot more ERs "lighting up to relax" than would admit it too.

 

[haha]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

Have you noticed in the "chicken" thread how strange our eating habits are? People who eat their meat raw are surely not going to balk at a little grass burning. Maybe that is how we got into raw meat eating in the first place, just couldn't wait until the damn stuff cooked.


This board clearly draws from one strange sample space.

Ha

 

[ziggy29]

Probably are a lot more ERs "lighting up to relax" than would probably admit it too.

Except that those with crappy j*bs they want to leave may need the relaxation more. Then again, FIREd folks don't have to worry about peeing into a cup and losing their jobs by testing positive...

 

[Khan]

Have you noticed in the "chicken" thread how strange our eating habits are? People who eat their meat raw are surely not going to balk at a little grass burning. Maybe that is how we got into raw meat eating in the first place, just couldn't wait until the damn stuff cooked.


This board clearly draws from one strange sample space.

Ha

Hadn't thought of it that way before.

This is a self-selected sample.

 

[JonnyM]

You would have a divided market after legalization. The growers would keep growing, albeit without so much looking over their shoulder, depending on the details of the laws, and their good customers would happily continue to buy, although I expect the price would adjust downward somewhat as the risk reduces, so would the perceived value. Meanwhile there would be a group that would appreciate the convenience of being able to buy legal taxed tobacco style packaged dope in the easy carry 20 pack and be more than willing the pay a reasonable tax. The danger would be the BigCig companies seeing the writing on the wall and spending the billions to get in big time, lobbying big time to get the monopoly as quick as possible to have a future after people finally realize what a literal dead end tobacco really is. Weed is after all a weed. It is not expensive to produce exceptionally high quality dope, there is room for all kinds of tax in it that really could make a difference in this country. Currently all that money is being spent, but in the underground non-taxible economy. It gets turned over, but not in the most tax-effiecient way for the Feds.

 

[bbbamI]

I've never touched the stuff in my life -- not even a single puff -- not even in high school and college, and I have no desire to do so. The closest I've ever come to "using" was getting a few whiffs of the smoke at concerts in my younger days.

....thus the name Ziggy instead of Zig-Zag.....

 

[Purron]

....thus the name Ziggy instead of Zig-Zag.....

I'm guessing Ziggy doesn't have many works by Cheech and Chong in his collection.

 

[donheff]

The danger would be the BigCig companies seeing the writing on the wall and spending the billions to get in big time

Why a danger? That is precisely what the hope would be. If not cigarette companies, the current bad guys could go legit - not much difference. This is America - somebody needs to make a profit. We could tax it either way.

 

[mickeyd]

Why a danger? That is precisely what the hope would be. If not cigarette companies, the current bad guys could go legit - not much difference. This is America - somebody needs to make a profit. We could tax it either way.

I agree with your take 100%. Those BigCig guys are already situated and ready to market the hell out of pot. Seems like an ideal marketing situation for them.

 

[harley]

Current poll results have 73% in favor of legalization. That's dramatically different from the US population opinion. What's going on with an "Early Retirement" forum that makes us so different?

According to Gallup, legalizing is more popular with people who are: young, male, college educated, "liberal", non-religious, democrats, and westerners. I don't think that we have an unusual number of any of those groups on this forum. (Maybe more college grads, but an older average age.)

Any theories?

Who Supports Marijuana Legalization?

I think it would be more helpful to look at recent polls - Support for Marijuana Legalization is Growing in America | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet), Zogby Poll: Nearly Half Of Americans Believe Pot Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol -- Majorities In The East And West Coasts Back Legalization - NORML. I've noticed that as the topic is discussed more in the MSM, the numbers favoring legalization or decrim are growing. I personally think many people respond to "scientific" polls with what they tink they are supposd to say, as opposed to what they really think. If they do. I know these numbers are still lower than our poll, but I guess we're just ahead of the curve.

Seriously, as far as this forum goes, I think we're a group of more personal rights types, else we would all be planning on working until we die for patriotic reasons. Thus we vote "don't tread on me", and "why shouldn't the tokers be taxed just like everyone else".

 

[Independent]

I think it would be more helpful to look at recent polls - Support for Marijuana Legalization is Growing in America | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet), Zogby Poll: Nearly Half Of Americans Believe Pot Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol -- Majorities In The East And West Coasts Back Legalization - NORML. I've noticed that as the topic is discussed more in the MSM, the numbers favoring legalization or decrim are growing. I personally think many people respond to "scientific" polls with what they tink they are supposd to say, as opposed to what they really think. If they do. I know these numbers are still lower than our poll, but I guess we're just ahead of the curve.

Seriously, as far as this forum goes, I think we're a group of more personal rights types, else we would all be planning on working until we die for patriotic reasons. Thus we vote "don't tread on me", and "why shouldn't the tokers be taxed just like everyone else".

I wanted a source that provided some demographic breakdowns. I couldn't find the Zogby poll at all. (Do you have a link for it?) I found a press release for the CBS poll but in had just a sentence or two on age. I was more concerned about the differences between groups than the absolute numbers.

Regarding absolute numbers, I think the exact wording of the question matters. "Should we legalize marijuana and regulate and tax it just like alcohol?" will get more "yes" answers than "Should we legalize marijuana?". I like to believe that the first is closer to the real policy decision.

 

[mickeyd]

Seriously, as far as this forum goes, I think we're a group of more personal rights types, else we would all be planning on working until we die for patriotic reasons. Thus we vote "don't tread on me", and "why shouldn't the tokers be taxed just like everyone else".

I see us ERers as a group just like America, only better.