Polls Show Washington State Likely To Legalize Marijuana Next Week

If the polls hold, Washington State may be the first State in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Initiative 502 is holding the lead it has commanded for months. The latest poll released from King 5 and SurveyUSA says that 56 percent of voters say they will vote yes on the measure and 37 percent will vote no. Only 7 percent of voters are still undecided.

This poll comes at a time where there have been many statewide polls both for and against the initiative but all confirming the same thing. If the vote was held today, marijuana would be available to adults legally.

KCTS9 found that 55.8 percent of registered voters were supportive of I-502 with only 36.7 percent opposed. Those numbers held strong when looking at just likely voters who support the marijuana regulation initiative by 55.4 percent to 37.6 percent as well.

Strategies 360, another pollster in Washington State, has the initiative passing by a 54 percent-38 percent margin. King5/SurveyUSA has had two previous polls from October and September showing I-502 winning 55 percent to 36 percent and 57 percent to 34 percent respectively.

Washington State is one of many who have legalizing marijuana on a state level to be decided by voters. Colorado has a similar initiative and the polling is showing a similar trend. Colorado’s Amendment 64 to legalize marijuana for recreational use is leading in the polls 53 percent to 43 percent.

Even if the bills pass in their respective States, the Federal Government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic with a high potential for abuse and no accepted therapeutic value. In California, Federal agents have shown up and arrested those operating dispensaries or growing the plant even when they were acting under State sanction and had all the proper permissions.