Quote:
Originally Posted by corporatejay
Not one page ago you ripped Harper for lying about Canadians and pot legalization. Now I'm actually completely against Harper's position on this, but what he said was accurate. When given a third option the majority of Canadians do not want the full legalization of marijuana...just a direct quote mate.
“Most Canadians (when) you actually ask them, do not want the full legalization of marijuana.” A 2014 survey by Angus Reid Global found that 59 per cent of the 1,510 Canadians surveyed supported legalizing marijuana and 41 per cent were opposed.
However, in a survey where Canadians were given a third option -- decriminalization for possessing small amounts – only 37 per cent supported legalization, while 33 per cent chose decriminalization and 14 per cent supported the current laws. That survey included 3,000 people and was conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of the federal government. |
This is assuming that people were correctly able to decipher the difference between legalization and decriminalization and that they weren't used interchangeably as they are in popular discourse in Canada.
Taken in context with the previous poll you posted, it's arguable at least some of the respondents for decriminalization were attempting to vote for legalization.
Only 13% of respondents were in favour of stricter regulations regarding marijuana, a position taken by the prime minister.
Even in Quebec, where polling in favour of decrim/legalization was the lowest in Canada, 61% of respondents were in favour of decriminalization or legalization of marijuana.
So, whether you want to nitpick what percentage of Canadians want the countries marijuana laws relaxed, the truth is, the vast majority of Canadians want marijuana laws relaxed.
Harper in this instance is being disingenuous at the least and dishonest at the worst. Hell of a semantics game to play to justify policy decisions that go against the grain of popular Canadian opinion.
Further still, if not given the option to decriminalize marijuana, the majority of Canadians were prefer outright legalization to the current status quo.