Ottawa, Ontario: Canadians oppose law enforcement efforts to arrest and prosecute adults for the recreational use of marijuana, according to a national poll 1,000 Canadians conducted by SES Research Inc. and commissioned by NORML Canada.
According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents believed that adults who possess small quantities of marijuana for personal use should be left alone and not be subject to any type of criminal or civil sanction. One in three Canadians responded that they supported fining adults for using marijuana, while only eight percent said that such behavior should be subject to criminal prosecution.
A majority of Canadians also responded that they backed taxing and regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.
“The results show that Canadians feel the government is going in the wrong direction” regarding marijuana policy, said NORML Canada Executive Director Jody Pressman. “The people … understand [that] prohibition isn’t working now and never will. Taxing and regulating cannabis would generate billions of dollars in new revenue for social programs and finally remove the criminal element from the sale and distribution of marijuana.”
Detailed polling data is available online at: http://www.normlcanada.org