Washington, DC: Legalizing marijuana use for adults is the top policy question, as voted on by the American public, in White House’s first-ever ‘Citizens Briefing Book,’ issued by the Obama administration on Wednesday.
The ‘Briefing Book’ tabulated Americans’ online votes on over 44,000 different public policy questions. The proposals were posted on the Change.gov website (now whitehouse.gov) in January.
Some 125,000 Americans participated in the White Houses’ online poll, casting over 1.4 million votes. Proposals were awarded ten points for each positive vote.
Based on the total number of points received, ending the criminal prohibition of marijuana ranked as the most popular issue, receiving 92,970 points. Halting the use of “federal resources to undermine states’ medical marijuana laws” ranked as the third most popular issue, receiving 66,170 points.
In response to a similar White House online poll question in December 2008, a spokesperson for the Obama administration commented, “President … Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.”
Last week, a national Zogby poll of 3,937 voters commissioned by conservative-leaning O’Leary Report found that a slight majority of Americans – 52 percent – favor legalizing marijuana. The poll marks the first time that a majority of the public has expressed support for pot legalization in a nationwide telephone poll.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at: (202) 483-5500.