The latest polling data for Colorado’s Amendment 64, that aims to regulate marijuana like alcohol, reveals a growth in support since the previous survey data, and the amendment looks to be marching its way towards victory on November 6th.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 904 likely voters in Colorado from October 23rd to 25th and found they support Amendment 64 by 53%. Only 43% were opposed and the number of undecideds has shrunk to 5%. The bump in support can be, in part, thanks to the closing of the gender gap, Women now support A64 by a margin of 50% to 46%.
Previous data, released last week by the Denver Post, had Amendment 64 holding onto a small lead, with 48% in support, 43% opposed, and 9% still undecided. It appears that the current campaign media blitz, including two television advertisements and a radio ad featuring Melissa Etheridge, may be having the desired effect. The number of undecided voters continues to dwindle and they look to be breaking in our favor.
Don’t take this victory for granted, this will still be a very close race come Election Day. Do your part to help us make Colorado the first state to re-legalize marijuana by participating in our online phone banking program. You can use the official Yes on 64 phone banking website from anywhere in the country and dial Colorado voters in support of Amendment 64. Each call can mean the difference between a ‘no’ or a ‘yes’ vote or the difference between staying home and going to the polls.
Smoke the Vote on November 6th. Vote YES on Colorado’s Amendment 64, because REGULATION WORKS!
Learn more about Amendment 64 and the other marijuana initiatives on the ballot this year by visiting NORML’s 2012 voter guide, Smoke the Vote.
I think we’re going to make history very soon.
I have my fingers crossed.
I am getting so excite This old man is pooing all over him self. Heck why cant this be Texas?
This is exciting news for everyone around the country. If it passes other states will follow suit
I will be scheduling a ski trip this winter and of course a stop in Denver to sample some goods.
Fix the pee brained sons of bitches. Whip it good!
IT WOULD BE SAME AS ANY LIQUORS STORE. TAXABLE AND FOR ADULTS. IT WOULD HELP IN SO MANY AREAS.
LEGALIZE IT .. ITS NATURAL AND ITS BEEN PROVED HOW MUCH IT HELPS MEDICAL SPEAKING . NOT JUST FOR THE HIGH, LIKE ALCOHOL … ITS TIME ALREADY TO ALL OPEN EYES TO REALITY
This is great news. So far NORML is the only website reporting 53% support. Everyone else has us at 48% in support to 43% opposed. I also read on the internet that all three states were under 50%.
how is Washington going to react to this? I for one cant wait to hear them wine about legal weed. Sounds like alot of court time. I bet the lawyers are licking there chops. Go CANABIS
There’s one issue that no one has mentioned: legalization will not stop employers from testing urine for this.
Tobacco is legal but companies are starting to test for nicotine. If they catch you, they make you quit or they will fire you. They will certainly do the same with cannabis.
I think the best way around this is for cannabis to be moved to schedule II (or higher) and getting a RX from a doctor. Since it would be prescribed, an employer is forbidden from even knowing the drug test result.
[Editor’s note: Why should an adult have to go to a physician to use cannabis? Instead of keeping totally failed prohibition laws in place–with the 850,000 annual arrests–because you’re afraid of drug testing in the workplace, when you already acknowledge that employers test today for legal products like tobacco, makes no economic or moral sense?
Rather than embrace the sophistry of cannabis consumers having to pay even more money to go through expensive professionals like physicians and pharmacists (and the government will, like they do now, track all of these transactions via triple prescription forms), the better alternative is for cannabis to be treated legally and morally like alcohol/tobacco/caffeine products, where only the misuse and/or abuse is of any concern for law enforcement and society.]
Editor: I agree that the prohibition laws have failed and I am in favor of legalization but I think you missed my point.
To answer your question “Why should an adult have to go to a physician to use cannabis?”, It is a work-around to avoid employment/pre-employment testing.
If the drug is prescribed (not “recommended” as it is now), an employer can not test for it.
Tobacco is not prescribed and an employee or candidate can be tested and fired/disqualified if they tested positive.
[Editor’s note: OK…you claim to want to end cannabis prohibition…but are OK with it if cannabis consumers go to physicians to get prescription for it AND therefore be able to have an excuse to fail a drug screen.
How bold of you!
Do you think you just killed two birds with one stone or something?
If you’re so concerned that employers test prospective and current employees for one thing or another (tobacco, weed, etc…), that is a separate subject in public policy that you and others can fight out with legislatures and companies that drug test (which, according to American Mgmt Assoc is less than 50% of companies).
However forward-looking cannabis consumers and lovers of liberty should vote whenever possible for legalization initiatives and elected policymakers…and seek perfection down the road via future initiatives and legislation if that is truly their druthers.
Vote now to stop the mass arrests, prosecutions, incarcerations of cannabis consumers, cultivators and sellers; create a retail environment where cannabis consumers, including current patients who use cannabis, can buy high quality cannabis products at absurdly lower, non-prohibition related pricing.]
Editor:
How does one pay for cannabis without a job?
I would take your point seriously if you weren’t so condescending.
[Editor’s note: Grow your own, work for a company that does not drug test (less than half of companies drug test…most of them because the federal government mandates it via contracting…no more federal prohibition…far, far less drug testing for cannabis is America) or start your own company.
Don’t delude yourself that the current Prohibition laws–which are so expensive for society and destructive to personal liberty– are preferable to an employee possibly having to take a pre-employment drug screen post prohibition.
Drop the myopia, get some forward looking vision!]
Editor:
According to a poll released Sept. 7, 2011, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA), the practice of requiring job applicants to consent to a pre-employment drug screening appears to be gaining acceptance from employers.
Fifty-seven percent (which is more than you stated above) of employers surveyed reported that they require all job candidates to take a pre-employment drug test.
http://rollingout.com/business/job-finance-tips/help-wanted-but-must-be-drug-free-how-marijuana-legislation-impacts-the-workplace/
[Editor’s note: DATIA is the drug testing industry (and by extension pharmaceutical industry, since they own most drug testing services) lobby group and they should not be trusted or cited as they think drug testing is more important to human existence than air and water. American Mgmt Assoc, which tracks drug testing, is a non-conflicted, non-profit trade organization.]
ABC News reports the following:
According to the American Management Association, approximately 76 percent of employers require pre-employment drug testing.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CornerOffice/story?id=87050&page=1
[Editor’s note: The AMA report cited in the ABC quiz only looked at Fortune 1000 companies. Many of them have business with the federal government, which requires companies to comport with federal Drug Free Workplace Act requirements…like drug testing. When small businesses are added into the mix the numbers come down closer to 50% of companies require pre-employment screening.
Many of these major companies would not drug test if were not for the federal laws and contracting guidelines.]
Back in the 70 the age for buying alchola set at 18 years of age to stop this the Feds stop fed money to fix the highway if a state dint raise the drinking age to 21. Will this be one of the tools the Feds will use on the states that pass cannabis They dint do it on medical cannabis. So we will see
to greyhound,
if this information will help, i have been keeping my employer informed of legalization issues concerning cannabis and , they have told me that if decrim. or legalization measures do come about, they will change their present drug testing policies. now, how, im not sure yet as, i have not had a recent meeting to find out exactly how they will change. it was uplifting to know at least they are thinking about something….my company is presently hair testing. i am hoping if they still test, that it will be along the lines of saliva testing if it can be more dependable for us and them. hope this helps….of course, im in florida and, we will undoubtedly be the last friggen state to change……peace to you…
Now some of you guys are saying that the drug testing in the workplace will be a problem. What should happen, is the same as with alcohol. You obviously can’t show up to work drunk, so obviously working while high could be bad as well. If the company is to drug test, it should be a simple mouth swab that only counts intake within the last 12 hours. Currently this is how many drug testing jobs do so. Legalization is key in our country. It will change everything. Vote yes!
[Editor’s note: Indeed…the concept is called ‘for cause’ testing. Regardless of the legal status of a drug, legislation and court precedent provide that employers can use drug testing to determine if an employee was on the clock or in the workplace while impaired.
Legalizing cannabis will not change this basic concept in law and liability, and is not a valid reason to vote against legalization.]
Uit de toekomst:
Legalisatie. Tja, het moest een keertje gebeuren.
I was just reading an article that argued marijuana is illegal in part because nobody has yet made a compelling argument for legalization.
That makes no sense. The question is, why was marijuana ever made illegal in the first place. But if you want an argument for legalization, here it is: I have not smoked marijuana in 30 year, and I am not pro-marijuana use. I AM ANTI-PROHIBITION.
If you want to grow it, smoke it, eat it, worship it, knock yourself out! The Constitution supports your freedom to do so, and such actions aren’t detrimental to society. Prohibition is. Prohibition is one of the most destructive actions ever devised, right up there with war.
Pot, Dope, Marijuana saved my life when I had brain cancer!It was the only thing that helped me with the pain I had when I reached remission as well.
@Douglas
WTF????
Greyhound, sometimes you just have to go “cold turkey” my friend. I hate it too, but it’s the current state of things. But like the editor said–legal MJ is FAR better than illegal. As more and more states begin to legalize (hopefully), fewer and fewer employers will see MJ as a hippie taboo from the 1960s. It’ll be like booze, with very few employers wasting their time testing for it.
Anyway, here’s a shout out to the great folks in Washington State, Colorado and Oregon! Best of luck to you–and the rest of us!
(imo) We need more info about the cause in ads and editorials in magazines and newspapers. It would seem that many “typical folks” are just misinformed about the herb- but I’m not the first person to say that. I think to just shed some light on how prohibition came to be: the racist arguments etc. the government corruption going on, and the invisible hands of certain evil corporations (many mention DuPont etc.)who keep it going and profit from it. Since the truth seems to be on our side, it needs to be spread more widely- not just in places and publications where we’d just be preaching to the choir.
*Pardon me, I guess I just posted something similar on another reply forum here.
Colorado tourism will skyrocket after this passes.
Please legalize Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. At least one of you. You have the power to advance this movement like never in US cannabis prohibition history.
I’m 56 years old and have been in this thing since 1975. I’m part of a proud generation of young people who stood up against that immoral and ill concived war in Veitnam, and thuumbed our noses at a corrupt president. I’ve worked hard all these years, and am certainly not a spoiled child! I’m damm tired of being ignored, laughed at, treated as a second class citizen, and DRUG TESTED! We need a win here, and we need to put the brakes on the shamefull, unconstitutional, and immoral pratice of workplace drug testing.
I have been on a cocktail of prescriptions for years for various illnesses. When I started smoking I reduced my pill count down from 26 daily pills to six. When I started smoking I just felt like I didn’t need to take so many pills anymore. The last time I have been in the single digits was when I was 14. Weed helped the way my medication often did, and often in ways it couldn’t and it didn’t come with horrible side effects. I used to be prescribed meds to ease the side effects of other meds. But when I started smoking my joints didn’t incessantly ache; the nausea went down; my anxiety mellowed; I could eat again; I could sleep. I haven’t felt this physically and functionally well for long time and I would say I owe that to weed and my med card. For those people that want to argue the “abuse of medicine” well then focus your efforts on pain pills and adderall. This would mean a lot for Colorado’s economy. People need to peel the word “drug” off of their preconcieved notion of marijuana and see what it has to offer both monetarily and medicinally.
How about Ohio?
looks like im moving to CO
I voted in CO this week and it felt great!! I’m very excited about 64 passing. I’m looking forward to the positive aspects of this bill like reducing incarceration, increasing tax revenue and especially the potential for CO farmers to be able to add hemp to the crops that they produce. This could be a great thing for our farmers and I will smoke to that 🙂 Go out and vote everyone!!
if colorado passes 64 will colorado state jobs still drug test for weed?
[Paul Armentano responds: Employers will still maintain their rights to institute drug testing of employees.]