Pubdate: Tue, 25 Aug 2015
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Megan Schrader

NEW POLL SHOWS MORE COLORADANS OPPOSED TO LEGAL MARIJUANA

A poll sponsored by the Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth shows 
that slightly more than half of Coloradans are now opposed to 
marijuana legalization.

According to a release from SmithJohnson Research, 51 percent of 600 
likely voters in Colorado said they would vote against marijuana 
legalization if it came up today. The poll, which was conducted over 
the phone with self-identified 2012 voters, has a margin of error of 
plus or minus 4 percent.

The survey results show a change in mood in the years since Amendment 
64 was on the ballot when 55 percent of Colorado voters supported 
legalizing recreational marijuana sales to adults over the age of 21.

"Voters seem to be having some buyer's remorse," said Val Smith, 
polling and research director from Sacramento-based SmithJohnson 
Research. "They don't like the impact Amendment 64 has had on their 
state across some very important dimensions, like edibles, teen drug 
use and impaired driving."

The Community Alliances for Drug Free Youth is a non-profit 
organization based in San Diego that promotes state, federal and 
international drug policies that keep drugs out of the hands of youth.

The survey also asked participants how Amendment 64 law has done on a 
variety of public safety measures and 22 percent thought it had done 
a good job of preventing marijuana use from increasing among youth, 
29 percent said it had done a good job of keeping marijuana edibles 
away from children to prevent poisoning and 28 percent said it did a 
good job of preventing drugged driving and workplace accidents.

The anti-marijuana legalization group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana 
(SAM), was quick to herald the results as a sign that "Coloradans are 
coming around to opposing legalization."

"The special interest marijuana industry has too firm a grip on 
regulations in Colorado, and voters don't like what they're getting," 
Kevin Sabet, president of SAM, wrote in a media statement.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom