In the latest marijuana polls, a growing number of residents agree that, in Michigan, marijuana should be taxed and regulated the same way as alcohol.

According to a SurveyUSA poll released Jan. 22, 64 percent of Michiganians would vote “yes” on a ballot proposal that would tax and regulate the drug to increase school and road funding.

The survey, which was given to 500 state residents and sponsored by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Report, also asked for approval of the legislature’s plan to increase the sales tax by 1 percent to increase the school and road funding.

Jason Eastman, a sociology professor at Coastal Carolina University, said there are theories that could potentially explain the reasons behind and increasing acceptance toward the regulation of the drug.

“One thing we do kind of notice is that increasingly individualism has become more and more of a central part of the American culture,” Eastman said. “I guess you can say there’s a cultural idea that people should be able to do what they want as long as it’s not hurting anyone.”

Eastman said the support of businesses in this matter has been important too.

Another survey was commissioned in December by the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The survey indicated that 50 percent of Michiganians agreed to legalize marijuana and would support it on a ballot proposal to legalize and tax it.

The survey was conducted by phone and has an error rate of 4 percent.

“Clearly, a bare majority of Michigan voters would vote ‘yes’ on a proposal to legalize the possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana for adults age 21 or older,” the polling memo says.

Lansing-based survey research firm EPIC-MRA president Bernie Porn said the trend in Michigan is that more residents want to legalize it, or at least are leaning toward a “yes” vote.

According to the polling memo, 39 percent voted they would definitely vote in favor of the taxation and the legalization of the drug, 9 percent said they would probably vote in favor and 2 percent said they were leaning toward a positive vote.

Porn’s firm conducted a similar survey in September 2013 in which 47 percent of the respondents said they were in favor to “legalize marijuana by taxing and regulating it like alcohol.” In the same survey, 26 percent of the respondents said they wanted to “continue our present system of state criminal penalties for marijuana offenses.”

The decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in Michigan appears to be an ongoing issue with no clear resolution in sight.

In East Lansing a proposal that would allow adults 21 and older to use, possess or transfer 1 ounce or less of marijuana on private property was submitted by the Coalition for a Safer East Lansing to be voted upon on the November 2014 ballot. The ballot proposal will now be included in the May 2015 special election.

“Unless there is a massive social problem that starts popping out ... the trend would probably continue until we start to see some negative consequences from it,” Eastman said.