Poll: Majority of Va. voters support easing marijuana laws

Strong majorities of Virginia voters support medical marijuana legalization and laws decriminalizing recreational use, a new poll says.

According to a Christopher Newport University survey released Tuesday, 71 percent of registered Virginia voters support decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, compared to 26 percent who oppose it. Sixty-nine percent support legalizing medical marijuana in the state, while 29 percent oppose.


The poll comes days after Democratic state Sen. Adam Ebbin introduced a bill to decriminalize the possession of less than a half an ounce of marijuana, for which a first-time offender now faces jail time, a misdemeanor charge and a $500 fine. Ebbin’s bill would get rid of the criminal charge and make the penalty a $100 fine.

The NAACP and the ACLU have already offered support for the legislation, citing statistics that criminal charges for marijuana possession have a disproportionately negative impact on minority communities. Ebbin has said that the criminal charges for marijuana hurt Virginia’s economy because of enforcement costs and the harm to nonviolent citizens.

In August, Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe said he supports medical marijuana legalization but is “not there yet” on legalization of recreational pot.

More than half the states in the U.S. have passed legalized medical or recreational marijuana laws or recreational marijuana decriminalization. Voters in four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — have approved marijuana legalization ballot initiatives, as did Washington, D.C.

The survey was conducted Jan. 11-23 with 1,062 registered Virginia voters on landlines and cellphones. The margin for error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

This article tagged under: Polls

Virginia