Pubdate: Sun, 09 Dec 2012
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2012 Mcclatchy Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Susan Page
Page: D6

POLL: IF STATES OK POT, FEDS SHOULD RELAX

However, There's No Consensus on Legalization.

Americans are divided over whether marijuana should be decriminalized 
- - 50 percent say no, 48 percent say yes - but they overwhelmingly 
agree on this: When states vote to legalize pot, the feds should look 
the other way.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, those surveyed say by almost 2-1, 63 
percent to 34 percent, that the federal government shouldn't take 
steps to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that legalize pot.

The question took on some urgency Thursday as Washington became the 
first state to decriminalize the possession of marijuana for 
recreational purposes. Just after midnight, hundreds of celebrants 
lit joints at the base of Seattle's Space Needle.

A similar law is scheduled to take effect January in Colorado, where 
voters last month also approved a ballot measure legalizing the 
manufacture, distribution and possession of up to an ounce of 
marijuana by adults 21 and older.

That puts both states in conflict with federal law, which lists pot 
in the same Schedule 1 category as heroin and LSD.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances 
Act remains unchanged," the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle said in 
a written statement. "Neither states nor the executive branch can 
nullify a statute passed by Congress."

Still unclear is precisely how, and how aggressively, federal law 
enforcement officials plan to proceed.

The poll finds no national groundswell to decriminalize marijuana. 
Support for legalization has risen dramatically since 1969, when 
Gallup found Americans opposed the idea by 84 percent to 12 percent. 
But levels of support actually have dipped a tad from last year, when 
50 percent supported legalization and 46 percent opposed it.

The age group most in favor of the feds, well, chilling out, aren't 
young people but those 50 to 64 years old, members of the Baby Boom 
generation. Seventy percent say the feds should look the other way, 
as do 69 percent of those under 30. Among those between 30 and 49 and 
seniors 65 and older, 61 percent oppose enforcement.

The poll of 1,015 Americans, taken Nov. 26 through 29, has a margin 
of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom