March 19, 2009 6:30 PM

Poll: Americans Oppose Legalizing Marijuana, Lowering Drinking Age

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Polling
(CBS)
A majority of Americans oppose legalizing marijuana and lowering the drinking age even if it would mean economic benefits for cash-strapped state and local governments, a new CBS News survey finds.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans say marijuana should be illegal, even after being presented with the idea that the drug could be taxed. Thirty-one percent say it should be legal, while another seven percent say it should be legal if it is taxed and the money goes to projects.

California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill in his economically struggling state calling for legalizing the drug and regulating it in much the same way alcohol is regulated. The California Board of Equalization, which collects taxes, estimates California's possible revenue from doing so at $1.3 billion per year.

More than 500 economists, including Milton Friedman, have endorsed the notion of legalizing marijuana for the potential economic benefits taxing it could provide. President Obama opposes marijuana legalization.

Read The Entire Poll (PDF)>

Asked about whether they favored lowering the drinking age to 18 – a change, they were told, that could allow police more time to enforce laws besides underage drinking – roughly three in four Americans expressed their opposition. Just 24 percent said they favored such a move.

The strongest support for lowering the drinking age comes from Americans under 30, but even six in ten in this group are opposed.

As CBS' 60 Minutes reported last month, some believe that lowering the drinking age could actually make young people safer, though others strongly disagree.

See More CBS News Polls

Search CBS News Polls Dating Back To 1976

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1142 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone March 12-16, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Add a Comment See all 159 Comments
by aboutimage September 10, 2011 3:34 AM EDT
<rant>

There is a simple, two-step answer to this entire debate:

(1) Let the states decide, and;
(2) No federal encroachment on states who decide to legalize.

Step 1 is already happening. Some states are choosing "Yes" and others are choosing "No". This is how it SHOULD be in America. That was one of the reasons for having States, after all. If your way of life doesn't fit well with mine, then both of us are free to move to a place where more people think like us.

But the facts are, this country does not work that way. Our federal government has its own rules for its citizenry, no matter what the people decide. And federally, cannabis is very much illegal. This should not be forgotten. It is a verifiable fact that police agencies in Medical Cannabis states like California are cross-swearing Federal agents onto their local teams, specifically to bypass the State ordinances.

Because of this, I don't really look at this as a cannabis issue at all. What I see instead is a Federal government that grown beyond its own (and our) control. Every one of us gives (I'm guessing) a grand total of 40-50% of every dollar we earn in the form of some sort of tax. For that we get a broken federally-run school system and a broken federally-run prison system.

I can't actually think of too many things being run by our Federal government that really works all that well.

Can you?

Since I am now officially WAY off topic, I might as well add this: There is no country in the world that incarcerates a greater percentage of its citizens than the Land of the Free. Not Libya. Not North Vietnam. America. Look it up if you don't believe me.

What's my point? That we, the people, wanted a government that represented us. We left England because we didn't want a King telling us what we could do, how we could do it, or how much we could pay in tribute for the boon of being allowed to live free as long as we lived freely in precisely the manner we were told.

How well did we do?

</rant>
Reply to this comment
by car_ramrod07 April 25, 2010 10:17 PM EDT
Legalize it! Personally I don't see anything wrong with weed..
Alcohol should be illegal, look how many people it kills every year and its much worse for your health. I can smoke weed and act completely normal, but as for alcohol it makes you act like a total dumb ass.
Reply to this comment
by jherrer2 April 21, 2010 10:38 PM EDT
The real questions asked should be:

1. Do you favor Marijuana legalization which would reduce crime and help pull us out of the depression brought on by greedy white collar criminals that could care less about the state our country is in?

2. Do you find it typical that the politicians collect large campaign contributions off legal drug manufacturers and tout the same tired debunked nonsense generated from 80 year-old yellow journalism?

3. Are you surprised that politicians suggest taking drugs that are infinitely more lethal and expensive than a plant that grows naturally in 3 months for under 20$?

4. Based off similar polls conducted 5 years ago are you shocked that over 50% of the population can read and write?

Then we should ask the politicians:

1. Are you surprised that 75% of the public thinks most politicians are greedy uninformed deceitful bigots with zero integrity that would throw their helpless grandmother under the bus to climb the ladder of wealth and power?

One more general question for the masses:

1. Are you surprised that organized religion continues to die as the Christian right parades around reeking of ignorance and hate while protecting child molesting priests?

The only reason more people don?t favor legalization is because A. they are uninformed and B. The phrasing of the question.

Happy 4/20.


Read more: http://hometestingblog.testcountry.com/?p=7840&cpage=1#comment-16936#ixzz0lnCsnGPy
Reply to this comment
by xZEEx April 20, 2010 9:02 AM EDT
This was another FIXED poll,you cannot randomly over the phone ask these questions....I read how the poll was conducted and it is plain to see that the results were not going to accurately reflect the truth.
I was born yesterday but not last nite,sorry this is just another lie.
Reply to this comment
by Greenstein09 December 2, 2009 4:35 PM EST
I'd like to say another thing. Back when our country was first starting out to get on track we selled tobacco to get it on track. Why can't we do the same with marijuana? Idiots.
Reply to this comment
by Greenstein09 December 2, 2009 4:30 PM EST
This is ********. Everyone knows they want it to be legalized. No wonder why this economy is **** making retarded laws like this.
Reply to this comment
by truthrising420 July 16, 2009 5:50 PM EDT
THIS GRAPH IS BIAS.... we know that, LEGALIZE alREADY, stand up 4 your RIGHT
Reply to this comment
by truthrising420 July 16, 2009 5:49 PM EDT
this graph is INACCURATE. POOR SAMPLING, DOESNT REPRESENT ANY LOGICAL VIEWS-------. LETS LEGALIZE alREADY , wake up people
Reply to this comment
by Native_America May 17, 2009 1:19 PM EDT
58% + 31% = 89%, 89% + 7% = 96%

How can you make an official poll on how every single American feels about this subject when you do not include the entire 100% of said country? The government did this to my people, too. and how many Native Americans do you personally know?
Reply to this comment
by nickiiebaby May 5, 2009 5:00 PM EDT
If you think marijuana is bad them you haven't seen it all. Alcohol affect teens more than marijuan does. The government should just legalize it and get it over with! After all this is supposed to be a free country so why can't the government just leave the weed smokers alone and legalize it!!!!!
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