New York Times' Readers Respond to the Editorial Series on Marijuana Juliet Lapido - The New York Times
go to original August 6, 2014

A vendor weighs buds for card-carrying medical marijuana patients at the West Coast Collective medical marijuana dispensary, in Los Angeles. (Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse)

We knew from polling data that a majority of Americans, 54 percent, favored legalizing the use of marijuana. Now that we’ve begun publishing an editorial series arguing for an end to marijuana prohibition, we know that a majority of Times readers appear to favor legalization, too, and in far greater numbers than the population at large.

We asked readers on the main editorial if they were for legalization, against it or unsure. Forty-one said they were unsure, 206 against and 4043 for. Obviously the comments section doesn’t amount to a scientific poll, but the lopsided reaction indicates that, among Times readers, there’s a virtual consensus: The federal ban on marijuana makes no sense.

Times readers favor legalization for the same reasons the Times editorial board does: They think the criminalization of marijuana has ruined lives; that the public health risks have been overstated; and that law enforcement should focus its resources on graver problems.

Mark Hanna from Virginia summed up the prevailing mood succinctly: “Like many wars the war on drugs has caused too much carnage. Let’s responsibly legalize marijuana.”

Read the rest at The New York Times

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