According to the pro-marijuana lobby the U.S. is on the fast track to legalization nationwide. A new study refutes this claim outright, citing evidence from African-American and Latino New York registered voters. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and their New York Affiliate, SAM-NY, today released the results of a Emerson College poll conducted to gauge the public opinion of marijuana policy. The results are telling and marijuana legalization is hitting a roadblock:
- 76 percent of respondents did not support marijuana advertising
- 73 percent did not support public use of marijuana
- 58 percent did not support marijuana stores in their neighborhoods
- Half of New Yorkers are against marijuana candies, gummies, cookies and other edibles
- Minority communities overwhelmingly opposed the full-scale legalization. Only 22 percent of Latinos and 24 percent of African Americans support legalization
“New Yorkers do not support pot legalization. This poll shows us that elected officials need to slow down,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder and president of SAM Action. “This poll shows similar results to our poll of New York voters in December — legalization is far from a slam dunk. One of the crucial takeaways from this is that minority communities are firmly opposed to legalization. And they should be — pot arrests for African American and Latino youth have gone up since legalization in Colorado. Pot shops are always predominately in lower income neighborhoods.”
To read the full poll — methodology, results, demographics, survey instrument — click here. And check out the full press release here: more-than-half…-college-poll
