Since then, several additional polls have confirmed that the nation’s support for legalizing marijuana has never been higher, and is fast approaching “super-majority status.”

In fact, a recent poll sponsored by Oaksterdam University indicates that support for legalization among Californians has already achieved such vaulted status (well, almost).

Today two more polls are reaffirming America’s new “marijuana Zeitgeist.”

First, in California a new Field Research Corporation poll of 901 registered voters found that 56 percent of voters agree with the statement: “Legalize marijuana for recreational use and tax its proceeds.”

According to pollsters, this is the first time ever in a California Field poll that a majority of voters have endorsed regulating the adult use of cannabis. In February, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced legislation — Assembly Bill 390: The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act — to tax the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis. To date, over 8,000 NORML supporters have contacted their state representatives in support of AB 390, which is expected to be taken up by the state Assembly early next year.

Nationally, a just-released ABC News/Washington Post poll of 1,072 adults finds that a record 46 percent of all Americans now favor “legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.” This total is more than double the percentage of Americans who responded affirmatively (22 percent) to a similar ABC poll question in 1997!

ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: HOT-BUTTON ISSUES
via ABCNews.go.com

46 percent of Americans now favor legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use, the most in data back to the mid-
1980s and more than double its level 12 years ago. While 52 percent remain opposed, that’s down from 75 percent in the late 1990s and 78 percent in 1986.

The biggest changes in the past two decades are 29- and 27-point advances in support for legalization among Democrats and independents, to 49 and 53 percent, respectively. The slightest: a 10-point gain among Republicans, to just 28 percent support.

So much for the myth that supporting marijuana law reform is ‘politically suicidal.’ In fact, if you are a politician — or President — whose constituency leans Democrat or Independent, it’s becoming increasingly likely that more of your supporters favor legalization over prohibition, and if you want to stay elected, you should too!

New Hampshire: The Senate voted 14 to 10 today in favor of HB 648, which would allow qualified patients to possess up to two ounces of cannabis and/or six plants for medical purposes. Because the Senate made minor amendments to the proposal, it must be re-approved by the House before going to Gov. John Lynch – who has expressed reservations about the measure. Starting tomorrow, our allies NH Compassion will begin airing television ads asking for the Governor to support HB 648. If you live in New Hampshire, you can write or call Gov. Lynch here.

Minnesota: Also today, members of the State Senate gave preliminary approval to Senate File 97, an act to exempt qualified medical cannabis patients from state arrest and prosecution. The Senate is expected to give final passage to the bill imminently. A companion bill, House File 292, is also expected to be before the House floor shortly. If you live in Minnesota, please support this campaign by contacting your state representative and especially Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Additional information is available from Minnesota Cares here.

Rhode Island: Members of the Rhode Island Senate voted 35 to 2 today in favor of SB 185, an act to allow for the distribution of medical cannabis by state-licensed compassion centers. A companion bill, HB 5359, is pending in the House and is expected to be voted on shortly. UPDATE! Today the House Health, Education, and Welfare Committee voted 8-0 in favor of HB 5359. The bill now goes to the House floor. If you live in Rhode Island, please contact your House member and urge him or her to follow the Senate’s lead and support HB 5359. Even if the both chambers ultimately approve this effort, it is likely that the legislature will need to override the Governor’s veto before this measure can become state law. That means that every vote counts. For more information about this campaign, please visit the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition here.

Pennsylvania: Finally, NORML is thrilled to announce that Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia), along with six co-sponsors, introduced legislation today to make Pennsylvania the fourteenth state to legalize the physician-supervised use of cannabis. As introduced — House Bill 1393, The Barry Busch Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act of 2009 — would allow state-authorized patients to possess and cultivate cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The measure also seeks to allow for the state-licensed distribution and sale of medical marijuana by authorized ‘compassion centers. For several months, Philly NORML has worked behind the scenes with Rep. Cohen’s staff to draft this important legislation, which you can read about here. If you live in Pennsylvania, you can support this effort by going here.

To learn about additional medical marijuana law reform legislation in Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Texas, please visit NORML’s Legislative Action Alerts page here.

Writing in the Sunday edition of Time.com, author (and frequent media critic) Maia Szalavitz asks, “Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?”

Citing statistics from researcher (and frequent Salon.com blogger) Glenn Greenwald, Szalavitz reports that Portugal abolished all criminal penalties regarding the use and possession of cannabis (and other drugs) earlier this decade — opting instead to treat drug use strictly as a health problem. So what happened?

“Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success,” says Glenn Greenwald. … “It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.” (NORML Note: You can listen to audio comments from Greenwald on the NORML Daily Audio Stash here.)

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal’s drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

Writing on his own blog, Greenwald comments on the significance of his findings, as well as the fact that they are finally being recognized by the mainstream media.

Few political orthodoxies have more of a destructive impact than our approach to drug policy. Our harsh criminalization framework results in the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, breaks up families, burns tens of billions of dollars every year, erodes civil liberties, turns our police forces into para-military units, and spawns massive levels of violence and criminality — all while exacerbating the very harms it seeks to address. If a measured, rational debate over America’s extremist drug policies can take place in Time Magazine, then it can take place anywhere.“

Of course, to those who reflexively demand that we maintain pot prohibition, the very suggestion that eliminating (or softening) criminal penalties will not lead to an exponential explosion in use (much less be associated with a potential decline in drug use) is an anathema. Writing in the drug prevention and treatment newsletter Join Together, Jim Gogek offers the same tired allegations: facts be damned!

Legal marijuana would mean more access to marijuana. The number of marijuana users would spike, including teens. Problems related to marijuana use would spike. … Right now, there are 127 million alcohol users and 14 million marijuana users in this country – because one is legal and the other isn’t. But, most alcohol users don’t get intoxicated. … With marijuana, you get intoxicated every time you use it. That’s the whole point. … It severely hurts your ability to perform at school and work. It saps initiative and drive. It increases confusion. In other words, it makes you stupid. … Marijuana is the loser drug: That’s the big problem with it.

To their credit, the editors at Join Together have allowed me the opportunity to rebut Mr. Gogek’s claims, which I do here. Feel free to join the discussion.

Webb: Pot legalization ‘on the table’ in prison reform effort
via The Hill

The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.

“Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table,” Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.

“If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them,” the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. “And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes — possession crimes or minor sales.”

NORML praised Senator Webb for his candor and political courage earlier this month when we endorsed Senate Bill 714, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. If you have not yet written or called your U.S. Senator in support of SB 714, what are you waiting for?

Fortunately, Senator Webb is not the only member of Congress speaking out in favor of pot law reform. Other recent examples include:

California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez suggests on CNN that the federal government should allow California to establish a “pilot program” taxing and regulating the use of marijuana by adults. (Watch the video of her remarks here.)

U.S. House Representative Ron Paul (Texas) tells CNN that the use and distribution of pot should be regulated by the states, and that ending prohibition would dramatically decrease prohibition-related violence at the U.S./Mexican border. (Watch the video of his remarks here.)

Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (California) and Jim McDermott (Washington), speaking in The Hill (”Pot legalization favored by some to stem violence,” April 19) declare, “[F]rom a social policy, I don’t see any reason not to legalize it, control it, sell it, [and] tax it (marijuana).”

And in the ’sign of how far we’ve come, but how far we still have to go’ department, there’s this admission from Rep. Rohrabacher:

“There are a lot of people who understand that [the current war on drugs has been a failure]. … If it was a vote – a blind vote where nobody knew who was voting – you would have overwhelming support for legalizing marijuana out there, but they will never vote for it because they are afraid of taking on a controversial issue.”

Hmmm, sounds to me like a whole lot more people need to write and call their members of Congress and tell them: Marijuana law reform is not a politically controversial issue, but opposing it is.

And while you’re at it, why not write President Barack “legalizing marijuana is off the table” Obama and give him the same message.