By A majority of Americans would like to follow in the footsteps of Washington and Colorado in legalizing marijuana, according to a Gallup poll released earlier this month.
Out of a sample of more than 1,000 registered voters, the Gallup poll found that 58 percent said they thought marijuana should be legalized and 39 percent said no.
The poll, which had a 4 percent margin of error, used data collected from a random sampling of telephone interviews with U.S. citizens 18 years of age and older.
According to the poll, this is the first time that a clear majority of Americans have been in favor of marijuana legalization. In the past year, support for legalization has increased by 10 percentage points.
The Gallup poll also showed that 67 percent of people 18 to 29 years old supported legalizing marijuana, whereas 31 percent disagreed.
Many students at Cal State Long Beach, like senior economics major Brandon Villalpando, said they agreed with the 58 percent in the poll and that recreational use of marijuana should be legalized.
“I generally would support it, obviously with some restrictions on that, similar to what we have with alcohol,” Villalpando said. “I don’t think children should be able to use recreational drugs but certainly enabling adults who, you know, can take care of themselves.”
Other students, however, like junior social work major Michelle Climaco, said they disagreed and thought that legalization may lead to an increased use of the drug.
“Well, even though it’s not legal right now, people still smoke it, so if they make it legal, there’ll be more smokers,” Climaco said. “I think it’s a bad thing because if they make it legal then [people will] think it’s OK and then smoke all the time and then in front of their kids and stuff.”
Villalpando said he disagrees. He said that even though he thinks there may be a slight increase in recreational users if marijuana was legalized, he does not think there will be “an avalanche of heroine addicts and cocaine abusers.”
“I think that those who wish to do so already are already doing so and those who simply aren’t interested … probably won’t,” he said.
Junior biology major Briana Harris said she agreed with Villalpando in that marijuana should be legalized and regulated.
“My attitude is, if it doesn’t affect me then I don’t really mind,” Harris said. “I don’t hang out with anybody that smokes or anything like that. [But] they should have like designated areas like they do for cigarettes.”
In 2010, Californians voted on Proposition 19, which would have legalized pot in the state, but the measure was struck down.
In the 2012 election, Washington and Colorado voted for legalizing marijuana for those 21 years old and older by passing Initiative 502 and Amendment 64, respectively, according to Ballotpedia.org.
Eighteen other states, including California, and the District of Columbia have voted to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, according to medicalmarijuana.procon.org.
Staff Writer Emma Langschied contributed to this report.
