Common Sense

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-piper15-2009jul15,0,5266029.story

by Bill Piper from Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2009

Dan Neil hits the nail on the head (July 7). The relatively minor negative consequences that Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps had to endure for being outed for his marijuana use is Exhibit A that the war on marijuana is coming to an end. The American people are tired of the hypocrisy and extremism inherent in the war on (some) drugs.

In a 1969 Gallup poll, only 12% of Americans supported making marijuana legal. By 2005, support had grown to 36%. And in a Zogby International poll taken earlier this year, 44% of Americans said marijuana "should be taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes." The most interesting information, however, is in the demographic breakdown.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans in Western states, and 48% in East Coast states, support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol. Of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29, 55% say marijuana should be legalized; 53% of Democrats support legalization (as do 45% of independents and about one-third of Republicans). Fifty-three percent of Latinos say tax and regulate, according to the Zogby poll (45% of African Americans, 42% of whites and 41% of Asian Americans agree). And poll numbers are rising.

Both California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Gov. David Paterson recently said marijuana legalization should be considered and debated.