Legal pot favored in new California poll Field Poll

A sales associate at Harborside Health Center for just under a year, sells different varieties of California grown marijuana plants, "clones," to patients at the dispensary on Thursday January 27, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Under a plan drafted by Oakland Councilwoman Desley Brooks, the size of the farms would be scaled back and growing duties would be placed under the control of dispensaries - giving them more overall control of the California medical marijuana saga. less A sales associate at Harborside Health Center for just under a year, sells different varieties of California grown marijuana plants, "clones," to patients at the dispensary on Thursday January 27, 2011 in ... more Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Legal pot favored in new California poll 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

A firm majority of California voters now favors legalizing marijuana for recreational use, signaling a significant change in attitude from ambivalence in recent years and outright hostility three decades ago, according to a Field Poll released Wednesday.

Fifty-four percent of registered voters who responded to the Field survey supported legalizing the drug and subjecting it to the same sort of restrictions that exist for alcohol. Forty-three percent opposed the idea, and 3 percent had no opinion.

The Bay Area led all regions of the state in favoring legalization, with 66 percent of respondents saying they liked the idea.

Areas elsewhere were more closely split on the concept, from 52 percent favoring legalization in the rest of Northern California, Los Angeles County and the Central Valley to 47 percent backing it in conservative southern coastal areas including Orange and San Diego counties.

The last time the Field organization surveyed Californians' attitudes on allowing recreational use of marijuana, 50 percent were in favor. That was in 2010, four months before voters rejected Proposition 19, which would have legalized pot, by 54 percent to 46 percent.

The latest numbers reflect a quantum leap from the Field Poll's first measure of Californians on the subject, in 1969, when only 13 percent favored legalization. That approval figure had grown to only 30 percent in a 1983 Field Poll.

'Gradual evolution'

"This reflects a gradual evolution of California voters on a number of issues. They seem to be becoming more liberal in their views," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "A lot of that has to do with the changing demographics.

"Baby Boomers are replacing their parents, and they have been exposed to marijuana all their lives," he said. "So they may not all support marijuana legalization, but they are more comfortable with the issue."

The Field Poll asked four questions, the main one being: "Do you favor or oppose making the use of marijuana legal, with age and other controls like those that apply to alcohol?"

The greatest support for legalization, 61 percent, came from voters ages 30 to 39, followed by 58 percent for those ages 18 to 29.

Respondents 65 or older - a demographic that only recently has included the oldest Boomers - were the lone age group to oppose legalization. But even among senior citizens, opposition to legalization - at 52 percent - was slim.

"We need the money - that's why I'd legalize marijuana for everyone," said 82-year-old John Ortega of San Rafael, among those surveyed. "They did it for alcohol, so now let's do it for marijuana."

Field pollsters also asked voters if they still support the right to use medical marijuana, which was legalized in California in 1996. The 72 percent approval figure was virtually unchanged from previous Field Poll samplings in 2010 and 2004.

The poll also found that 58 percent of those surveyed were fine with allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate in their communities, and that 67 percent opposed federal efforts to crack down on businesses that sell medical cannabis legally under the state law.

Other states take action

The Field organization conducted the survey of 834 registered voters over 13 days in early February, three months after voters in Washington and Colorado became the first states in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Inspired by those elections, leaders of many pro-cannabis organizations in California are working on taking another ballot-box run at statewide approval in 2014 or 2016.

"I had problems with the way they were trying to do it back in 2010, but I think we're all on board now," said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a marijuana advocacy group. "I am confident we will make it back to the ballot."

A major objection to Proposition 19 was that it left most regulation to individual communities, raising the possibility of a patchwork of conflicting rules across the state. Gieringer said advocates are now leaning toward proposing at least some standardization statewide, as in Colorado and Washington.

However, the federal government still views marijuana as illegal, and antipot activists say they stand ready to fight any new legalization try.

"We never closed down after the 2010 election," said Scott Chipman, co-founder of the statewide Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana. "Marijuana is dangerous in the workplace, it's dangerous on the road, and we will oppose any effort to make it more legal."

Aside from older voters, two other groups in the new Field Poll bucked the trend toward approving recreational pot use: women and Latinos.

Different concerns

DiCamillo said the 46 percent approval figure from women reflected "greater concerns than men overall about children and family." The 41 percent support total from Latinos is due to their being "a more conservative social group, especially those who are older," he said.

The poll director noted, however, that Latinos ages 18 to 39 backed legalizing cannabis by 53 percent. That, he said, shows that "younger Latinos are taking on the values and social mores of their own generation."

The margin of error in the poll was 3.5 percentage points, a number that grew to five percentage points for demographic subcategories.