An incredible 89.6 percent support allowing the medical use of marijuana if prescribed by a doctor while just 7.9 percent of adults in Maryland oppose it
A slim majority of Marylanders believe that marijuana should be legal in their state. The newly released Goucher Poll found 39.4 percent of adults think pot should remain illegal while 50.1 percent the use of marijuana should be made legal. The results are basically unchanged since they last polled the question in October.
If Maryland did legalize marijuana the people of the state would want it heavily regulated. Among adults 25 percent would want it regulated more strictly than alcohol and 57 percent would want marijuana regulations to be roughly equal to those place on alcohol. Only 16.2 percent think marijuana should be less regulated than alcohol currently is in the Maryland.
The poll also found an incredible 89.6 percent support allowing the medical use of marijuana if prescribed by a doctor while just 7.9 percent of adults in Maryland oppose it.
The results come as the Maryland legislature debates whether or not to decriminalized the possession of marijuana. Wednesday the Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would make possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana only a civil offense punished with a fine.
The bill would then move to the House where it faces an uncertain future, as the House has been less supportive of marijuana reform than the Senate has in the past.
Jon Walker is the author of After Legalization: Understanding the future of marijuana policy
Photo by medihuana under Creative Commons license
