Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jul 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Michael Levenson

Weekly Poll

HALF OF MASS. VOTERS OK WITH LEGALIZED MARIJUANA

Nearly half of Massachusetts voters would support the legalization of
marijuana, according to a new Boston Globe poll that suggests the
state could be fertile ground for a ballot campaign to legalize the
drug here in 2016.

Forty-eight percent of likely voters said they would support a ballot
question making it legal for adults over 21 to consume or possess
limited amounts of marijuana, while 47 percent said they would oppose
such a measure. Five percent said they do not know how they would vote.

The results indicate that support for legalization has moved from the
political fringes only a few years ago into the mainstream,
particularly among younger voters, baby boomers, and Democrats.
However, many older voters, independents, and Republicans remain
opposed to casual use of the drug.

The growing public acceptance of the drug has also been captured in
national surveys that show that while Americans strongly opposed the
legalization of marijuana from the 1970s through the late 1990s, they
have recently come to support such efforts by a slim majority.

Advocates are trying to place a legalization measure on the ballot in
Massachusetts and five other states in 2016, hoping to build on the
passage of similar ballot questions in Colorado and Washington in 2012.

Marijuana supporters have targeted Massachusetts because voters here
strongly approved measures that decriminalized possession of small
amounts of the drug in 2008 and allowed its use for medical purposes
in 2012.

"I don't want to underestimate the value of a good campaign on either
side," which could shift public support for legalization in either
direction, said John Della Volpe, chief executive of SocialSphere
Inc., which conducted the poll for the Globe. But the results suggest,
"You've got a trend toward acceptance, and this bodes pretty well for
the proponents."

The live telephone survey of 601 likely voters was conducted from June
22 to June 24 and from June 29 to July 1. The margin of error was plus
or minus 4 percentage points for the survey overall and 5.1 percentage
points for a narrower sample of likely Democratic primary voters.

Robert Ayer, a 32-year-old pizzeria manager from Tewksbury, was among
the respondents who said he would support the legalization of
marijuana if the question were on the ballot.

"I think it would be good for our economy, for starters, and it's no
more harmful than alcohol or anything, so it wouldn't really be a drag
on society like everyone makes it out to be," he said in a folllow-up
interview. "Colorado is showing it really works."

But like many older voters, Mary Ann Couch, a 68-year-old retired gas
company worker from Springfield, said she opposes making the drug
legal for casual use.

"I believe in marijuana if it's given by a doctor to help people who
are sick, but just to go ahead and use it? No," she said in an
interview. "You start with marijuana and go on to something else, and
pretty soon you're addicted."

Yet the poll indicated that legalization would not encourage more
people to use the drug.

If marijuana were legal, 10 percent of likely voters said they would
definitely or probably use it - about equal to the 9 percent who said
they currently use it, either regularly (4 percent) or once in the
past year (5 percent). Thirty-five percent of those surveyed said they
had used the drug, but not in the last year, while 49 percent said
they had never used it.

The social stigma around the drug may also be lifting, according to
the poll.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents said their perception of a friend
would not change, either positively or negatively, if they learned
that person used marijuana recreationally. Notably, that result was
the same for older and younger voters, who were divided on other
marijuana-related questions.

The poll found some concerns that the state's current medical
marijuana law may be too lenient. The regulations allow patients to
purchase up to 10 ounces of marijuana every 60 days if a doctor deems
it medically necessary. This amounts to approximately 500 joints over
two months, and has led some physician groups to worry that the drug
could be sold on the black market.

Forty-seven percent of respondents said they agreed that the 10-ounce
limit is excessive, while 36 percent said it was appropriate and 17
percent said they did not know.

As it does each week, the Globe poll also tracked the candidates in
the governor's race.

Results showed that the Democratic primary contest is holding steady,
with Attorney General Martha Coakley continuing to dominate her
rivals: state Treasurer Steve Grossman and former federal health care
official Don Berwick.

For the third straight week since the party convention in Worcester,
Coakley had the support of 52 percent of likely Democratic primary
voters.

Grossman was at 19 percent in the poll this week as well as last week,
and at 18 percent three weeks ago. Berwick was at 8 percent this week
and last week and 7 percent the week before that. The results show
that neither Grossman, who won the convention, nor Berwick, who
narrowly missed beating Coakley, has been able to use those strong
showings to eat into Coakley's lead.

In a general election, Coakley remains the only Democrat who would
beat Republican Charlie Baker, although her lead has slipped slightly.
She would top Baker 40 percent to 31 percent - a 9-point margin, down
slightly from 11 points last week and 13 points the week before that.

Coakley's drop came as she was dealt two separate blows - first as the
state's Supreme Judicial Court overruled her by allowing a casino
repeal to go before voters, and then as the Supreme Court struck down
a law she had defended that barred protesters within 35 feet of
abortion clinics.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt