Most Europeans Reject Marijuana Legalization

[Wilbur]

Few adults in Europe believe marijuana should be readily available for personal consumption, according to the Eurobarometer conducted by TNS Opinion & Social. Only 26 per cent of respondents in 30 countries believe cannabis should be legalized.

The Netherlands has the highest support for legalization at 49 per cent, followed by Spain with 40 per cent, Britain and the Czech Republic with 32 per cent each, and Ireland with 30 per cent. In Romania, Sweden and Finland, less than 10 per cent of respondents concur.

In the Netherlands, marijuana is classified as a controlled substance, and its possession and production for personal use are considered misdemeanours. Still, the Dutch Ministry of Justice has developed a "policy of allowance" which outlines specific cases in which public prosecutors should not pursue a case. This policy is usually applied to the consumption of soft drugs.

Polling Data

Do you agree with the personal consumption of cannabis being legalized throughout Europe?

European Union
26%

Netherlands
49%

Spain
40%

Britain
32%

Czech Republic
32%

Ireland
30%

France
28%

Italy
28%

Austria
28%

Portugal
27%

Belgium
26%

Denmark
22%

Slovenia
22%

Luxembourg
20%

Germany
19%

Greece
19%

Lithuania
16%

Slovakia
16%

Malta
15%

Estonia
14%

Hungary
13%

Cyprus
12%

Latvia
12%

Poland
11%

Bulgaria
11%

Romania
9%

Sweden
9%

Finland
8%

Source: TNS Opinion & Social / Eurobarometer
Methodology: Interviews with 29,152 people ages 15 and over in the 25 European Union (EU) member nations, two acceding countries, two candidate countries and the Turkish Cypriot Community, conducted from Sept. 6 to Oct. 10, 2006. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.


Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: Angus Reid Global Monitor
Pubdate: 22 December 2006
Copyright: 2006 Angus Reid Global Monitor
Contact: 1001Macau: Daftar Situs Agen Judi Slot Gacor Online Terpercaya
Website: https://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/

 

[Keith Lake]

<img align="left" src="https://www.420times.com/gallery/data/641/Legalize_636454.gif" border="0" style="margin-right:6px" alt="" width="80" height="80" /> <font face="Impact"><font size="6"><font color="Gray">F</font></font></font>
Only 26 per cent of respondents in 30 countries believe cannabis should be legalized.

This seems surprising low to me. I hadn't heard of the Eurobarometer surveys so I did a little research to see if there was any chance of this being a partisan result.

Well, I guess I'm just not Internationally enlightened , this is a massive seemingly non partisan org that conducts seemingly statistically significant sampling methologies. They had a freakin N= 29,000+ plus sample size for this survey.

Just a bit of a bummer for me, I had come to believe that Europe was leading the way towards normalization (and acceptance), and I guess I just had the perspective that the cause was a little further along than this

 

[mr.mike]

If you look at some of those lower percentage countries, many were former soviet-bloc.

In these countries punishment has been harsh, and the social problems inflicted upon the convicted included housing and employment problems. Quite a stigma.

Some of these countries really haven't changed their drug laws since the collapse of the soviet union, when they were republics, or satellites, and the old people (anyone 16 or older in 1987) only believe the negative things from media and government.

In some of these new EU countries, it is even a criminal offense to publish anything which implies that illegal drug use has any benefit, or is of little risk.