Pubdate: Sun, 11 May 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Deborah Baker
Page: A1

MORE AGAINST THAN FOR NM LEGALIZING POT

Younger Voters Likelier to Support Casual Use

FIRST OF TWO POLLS

Marijuana fans probably shouldn't get too excited about lighting up 
legally in New Mexico - at least, not just yet.

A Journal flash poll conducted last week found more registered voters 
were opposed to marijuana legalization than favored it.

Forty percent of the respondents statewide said the use of marijuana 
should be legal in New Mexico, 47 percent said it should not, and 13 
percent said they were not sure.

The statewide telephone survey of 459 registered voters was conducted 
May 8 by Research & Polling Inc. of Albuquerque.

In New Mexico, marijuana use is legal only for medical purposes, 
although there have been efforts in the Legislature in recent years 
to decriminalize the drug and to legalize its use generally.

In the Journal poll, the view of legalization was driven 
significantly by the age of the voter.

Fifty-five percent of voters 18 to 34 years old said marijuana use 
should be legal, while 60 percent of those ages 65 or over said it 
should not, according to the poll.

Legalization was endorsed by 41 percent of the men who were polled 
and 39 percent of the women. On the other side, 43 percent of the men 
polled, and 51 percent of the women, said it should not be legalized.

A majority - 53 percent - of the Anglos polled said marijuana should 
not be legalized, compared with 38 percent of Hispanics and 44 
percent of Native Americans.

"Anglos, women and seniors are more likely to say that it should not 
be legal than other groups," said Research & Polling President Brian Sanderoff.

A poll done by the same firm last year for the Drug Policy Alliance 
asked a more detailed question: whether marijuana should be legalized 
for adults so that it could be taxed and regulated, like alcohol, 
with restrictions on where it could be bought and consumed.

Fifty-two percent of voters statewide who were polled said they 
either strongly supported or somewhat supported that proposal.

"It's interesting that when voters are asked straight up whether 
marijuana use should be legalized, a plurality say it should not," 
Sanderoff said. "However, support levels increase significantly when 
voters are given information about what marijuana legislation may 
entail, namely tax revenue and regulation."

In 2013, a bill to reduce penalties for possession of small amounts 
of marijuana passed the state House just a few days before the end of 
the session; it wasn't considered by the Senate.

This year, a constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana that would 
have put the question to voters was introduced in the Legislature but 
not acted on.

Emily Kaltenbach of the Drug Policy Alliance said poll results may 
vary depending on the question asked, "but we feel pretty confident 
that New Mexicans support some sort of marijuana reform" - from 
penalty reduction to legalization.

Some lawmakers have said they want to wait and see what happens in 
neighboring Colorado, where marijuana has been legalized.

Sanderoff said it's hard to know how the Colorado experience is 
affecting public opinion in New Mexico.

"I suspect proponents and opponents of legalization would selectively 
focus on the good news or bad news coming out of Colorado to 
reinforce their prior gut feelings," he said.

The specific question in the Journal flash poll was: Do you think the 
use of marijuana should be legal in New Mexico, or not?

For the Journal flash poll, 74 percent of the interviews were 
conducted via landline telephones, using a recorded interactive voice 
response system. Twenty-six percent were conducted via cellphone 
interviews, using professional telephone interviewers.

The margin of sampling error for the survey is plus or minus 4.6 
percentage points.

Coming Monday: Is it "fair game" for the news media to report private 
conversations that have been recorded?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom