12 Weekend, December 2-4, 2016
Calgary
Rolling with weed: Poll finds Alberta supports legalization MARIJUANA
Support for legal pot highest among millennials Helen Pike
Metro | Calgary Albertans are increasingly cool with the legalization of kush. A new ThinkHQ/Metro News survey has found that two-thirds of Albertans — 65 per cent — agree the drug should be legal, while only 20 per cent admit that when it’s legal, they will toke up. That’s an even higher rate of acceptance than a poll Insights West published in 2014, where half of Albertans asked would like to see the substance legalized. “I think in the past couple of years you’ve had more exposure of people to medical marijuana, and legalization in other jurisdictions,” said Marc Henry, president of ThinkHQ. “The fact that one in five say if it was legal they’d be likely to use it suggests there’s certainly a market for it.” The study found Calgarians are marginally less accepting (67 per cent) of pot policy compared to Edmonton at 76 per cent. Henry said they were able to connect that stat with people’s latest provincial ballot box votes, showing that Liberal and NDP voters are much more open to legal marijuana, and Wildrose, and
Likely 20% The study found Calgarians are marginally less accepting than Edmontonians. THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE
Progressive Conservatives aren’t as keen. “Edmonton definitely, they’re OK with it,” said Henry. “The support goes down with age, if you’re a millennial, under 35, support for legalization is almost 80 per cent.” Keith Fagin, an activist, said he’s not surprised to see people embracing the impending legal weed legislation. He’s been working for years to help people understand the facts behind cannabis consumption, and he’s especially encouraged to hear
89 per cent of Albertans accept the medical use. “We’ve changed a lot of minds,” Fagin said. “A lot of doctors are starting to come around; certainly the majority still aren’t willing to prescribe it, but it is coming along.” Finally, Albertans don’t want the substance sold and traded willy-nilly. And that’s something Fagin agrees with. In his eyes, pot should be sold in a licensed shop, where vendors have the expertise to
Unlikely 20% Very likely 10%
Fairly likely 10%
Not that likely 20%
Unsure 4% match c o n s u m ers with Not at all likely specific 54% strands. The survey shows that this people kind of sales environgrowing mament is the most acceptable, rijuana to sell from home, or at 72 per cent — what Al- unlicensed businesses popbertans don’t want to see is ping up to sell pot.
T h e survey asked pot-related questions to 1,106 Albertans online, weighted to reflect gender, age and region according to Statistics Canada, with a margin of error plus or minus three per cent.
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