Pot Poll and Unchanging Positions

Even in the wake of positive social and legal changes not all attitudes are immediately swept forward into the current. One such example is the opinion of numerous Colorada residents about cannabis. Despite being passed by nearly a ten percent gap, Amendment 64’s passage doesn’t seem to have changed many people’s mind in regards to cannabis consumption in Colorado. Nearly three year since the bill being ratified a poll conducted by SurveyUSA which was published in the Denver Post reveals that a majority of people in the state still harbor a negative view towards cannabis.

According to the survey over a third, or thirty-eight percent of respondents, think that the passage of Amendment 64 has hurt the states reputation. Less than a third, thirty-one percent, believe the Colorado’s image has been improved by the measure, and the remaining twenty-two percent stated that they believed the new law has had no impact.

The same poll has also gauged other opinions including the states regulatory environment, as well as the effectiveness of the education of the youth. In response to the former fifty-three percent ranked the state’s regulatory performance as “fair or poor”, while forty-two percent scored the regulations employed as “good or excellent”. About sixty-six percent of respondents in reaction to the latter question described Colorado’s education of the youth about cannabis as being “fair or poor”.
Interestingly though over half of those people surveyed stated they would support a law on the federal level making cannabis legal. Furthermore while a majority of respondents stated that they don’t partake of the great green, almost three-quarters said that they knew someone who did.

So with this mix of opinions the consensus seems to be that the common man’s opinion of cannabis hasn’t improved since Amendment 64’s passage and some people seem to be no longer championing the cause at all. For example, supposedly pro-marijuana politician Governor John Hickenlooper stated during a debate hosted by the Denver Metro of Commerce last year “[a]ny governor that looks at doing this before we see what the consequences are, I would view it as reckless”. So even some allies are jumping ship before the cruise really begins.

Of course there’s no indication that the amendment will be repealed, but it is a bit sad that mind have shifted towards a more tolerant view of cannabis consumption. Hopefully however, this is only a temporary position and future polls will reflect a more liberty-oriented view.