Americans may be ready to let people smoke marijuana legally, but they still take a rather dim view of those who do, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows. A definite stigma remains -- though Americans don't think every stereotype holds true.
First, the better news: By a 43 percent to 37 percent margin, Americans were more likely to reject the idea that most pot smokers are "stupid" than to agree that most are. And respondents divided about equally on whether to call most pot smokers "lazy," with 39 percent saying they are and 37 percent saying they're not.
Then again, Americans don't necessarily think marijuana users are "normal" either: By a 42 percent to 34 percent margin, more respondents said that the word does not describe most pot smokers than that it does. They were also more likely than not to call most pot smokers "unmotivated," by a 43 percent to 35 percent margin. By a 54 percent to 14 percent margin, they said the word "successful" does not describe most marijuana users. And by a 54 percent to 27 percent margin, they said most marijuana smokers can be described as "potheads."
A previous HuffPost/YouGov poll showed that Americans gave more credit to those who were described as "occasionally" smoking marijuana. That survey found that, by a 59 percent to 28 percent margin, most Americans think a person can be a responsible adult and still smoke pot now and then. And by a 45 percent to 35 percent margin, a plurality of Americans thought that most of those occasional smokers are responsible adults.
Americans in the newest poll divided along party lines in describing marijuana smokers. Republicans tended to agree they're lazy (47 percent to 34 percent), unmotivated (56 percent to 27 percent) and not normal (55 percent to 29 percent). Republicans were also slightly more likely than not to call them stupid (42 percent to 39 percent).
Democrats didn't feel as strongly, but largely said pot users are not lazy (43 percent to 33 percent), unmotivated (42 percent to 35 percent) or stupid (48 percent to 35 percent). Democrats divided 39 percent to 36 percent on whether marijuana smokers are normal.
Independents fell somewhere in between, with pluralities judging marijuana users to be lazy (40 percent to 33 percent), unmotivated (42 percent to 34 percent) and not normal (40 percent to 33 percent), but not stupid (41 percent to 35 percent).
Few Americans from any group, though, said that most marijuana users are successful.
Another thing on which most Americans agree, regardless of political ideology: If you smoke marijuana, you probably are a pothead. Majorities of Republicans (61 percent to 22 percent) and independents (56 percent to 24 percent) and a plurality of Democrats (46 percent to 34 percent) said they think that word describes most marijuana smokers.
Despite these uncomplimentary words, most Americans support legalization. In a HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in February, 51 percent -- including 62 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independents and only 32 percent of Republicans -- said marijuana should be legal. Other recent polls have also largely found that half or more of Americans are ready to legalize.
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted April 15-17 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling.
Before You Go
“I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be," he said back in 2000 in an interview with Rolling Stone. "We really need a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment.”
He's since spoken about the issue of marijuana and drug prohibition a number of times. Last year, he appeared in the documentary, "Breaking the Taboo," where he argued that the war on drugs has been a failure.
“I don't want to promote that but I also don't want to put people in jail who make a mistake," Paul said. "There are a lot of young people who do this and then later on in their twenties they grow up and get married and they quit doing things like this. I don't want to put them in jail and ruin their lives."
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Robertson said in an interview with The New York Times in 2012. "I've never used marijuana and I don't intend to, but it's just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn't succeeded."
Robertson has made similar remarks on his "700 Club" show before, but the Times, like many others, perhaps felt they must have misheard him.
“[T]o me, marijuana is no different than wine," he said in an interview with High Times. "It's a drug of choice. It's meant to alter your current state -- and that's not a bad thing. It's ridiculous that marijuana is still illegal. We're still fighting for it ... It comes down to individual decision-making. There are millions of people who smoke pot on a social basis and don't become criminals. So stop with that argument -- it doesn't work.”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
From his campaign platform:
"By managing marijuana like alcohol and tobacco - regulating, taxing and enforcing its lawful use - America will be better off. The billions saved on marijuana interdiction, along with the billions captured as legal revenue, can be redirected against the individuals committing real crimes against society."
“Marijuana should not only be legal, I think it should be a cottage industry," he said in an interview with High Times. "My wife says, and I agree with her, that what would be really great for Maine would be to legalize dope completely and set up dope stores the way that there are state-run liquor stores.”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
While marijuana has been made legal for various uses in a number of states, the Obama administration continues to enforce federal laws across the nation. This has led to numerous raids of marijuana-based businesses, as well as prosecutions of growers and other people involved in pot.
"I think it's about time we legalize marijuana," he said. "We have to make a choice in this country. We either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars or we legalize it, but this little game we're playing in the middle is not helping us, it is not helping Mexico and it is causing massive violence on our southern border."
"Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use. Portugal's 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users - not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use - not criminal retribution."
"I don't tend to say this publicly, but we can see it's a curative thing. The narcotics industry is also enormous. It funds terrorism and - this is a huge problem in America - fuels the foreign gangs," he said. "More than 85 percent of men incarcerated in America are on drug-related offences. It costs $40,000 a year for every prisoner. If they were really serious about the economy there would be a sensible discussion about legalization."
While Obama and his administration have responded to state marijuana reforms by saying they must enforce federal laws against marijuana, the president has the power to reschedule the drug, which would allow federal authorities to shift resources away from a prohibitive approach.
"However, I think we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts," Palin said. "If somebody's gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society."While Obama has spoken repeatedly about not being interested in prosecuting small-time marijuana users, he hasn't done anything to prevent them from being busted by law enforcement in states where the drug is still illegal.
In 2012, the former president said he was fine with state legalization efforts, though he himself doesn't necessary support legalizing the drug.
“As president 35 years ago I called for decriminalizing -- but not legalizing -- the possession of marijuana,” Carter said. “Since then, U.S. drug policies have been very horrible to our own country because of an explosion in prison populations.”
"I don't have a problem with states experimenting with this sort of thing I think that's the role of states," Cuccinelli said, according to Ryan Nobles of WWBT.
“The proof will be in the policy. The war on drugs has gotten a really bad rap, when you ask people if they support the war on drugs they say no ... [Obama's] budget once again has the same old drug warrior policy ... I reject the assumption that everybody who is using drugs needs treatment or is an addict and needs to get arrested ... Not all drug use is abuse.”
He's kept up the fight for drug policy reform since.
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
“We've been fighting the war on drugs since the '60s. And guess what? Trillions of dollars later, we are losing," Sharpton said during a segment on MSNBC. "When you look at the disparities in sentencing drug offenders, hasn't this kind of injustice undermined the legitimacy of our criminal justice system?”
[H/T Marijuana Majority]
Tancredo continued, “The arguments against marijuana today are the same as the arguments against liquor years ago.”
Years later, the former congressman agreed to smoke pot on camera with a documentary filmmaker, a deal that he later backed out of.
