Cannabis has come a long way indeed. Despite suffering federal prohibition for decades, attitudes towards the plant are changing, and more people are looking at cannabis with an open mind. At the moment, numerous states have legalized either medical or recreational marijuana, or even both, and despite the current coronavirus crisis, there are several legalization initiatives currently in the works.
According to a new poll, if marijuana activists in Arizona are able to place a legalization initiative before voters this November, it will likely pass by a wide margin. The survey described the proposed measure, the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, and asked 400 likely voters if they would support it should it be put to ballot. The legalization initiative would make it legal for adults 21 and older to purchase and possess cannabis, and it would also impose a tax on legal sales.
Two thirds, or 65.5% of the respondents said they would support the proposed measure, an 11.5% increase from the 54% who said were in favor of a policy change in a poll late last year. 47% of the respondents said they would ‘definitely’ support the measure and 18.5% said they would ‘probably’ back it. On the other hand, 19% of the respondents said they would ‘definitely’ not back the measure and 6% said they ‘probably’ wouldn’t support it.
Smart and Safe Arizona, the campaign behind the legalization initiative, stated in April that it had collected more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. By the end of March, Smart and Safe Arizona had collected more than 320,000 signatures, which was about 80,000 more than was required to make the ballot. The campaign says that the signatures haven’t been verified by the state yet, and it has pledged to continue petitioning to ensure it is successful.
Stacy Pearson, campaign manager for Smart and Safe Arizona, says they are on track to turn in more than 400,000 signatures by the July 2 deadline. “The HighGround poll is encouraging and tracks with what our internal polling shows, Arizonians are ready to legalize marijuana. Particularly in this economic environment, new jobs and tax revenue are important to voters.”
The poll, which was conducted from May 18-22, found that the only group that appeared divided on the issue was those who identified as ‘very conservative’. All the other demographics were firmly in the legalization camp.
“As long as Smart and Safe Arizona can qualify for the ballot, all signs point to 2020 being the year that recreational marijuana finally becomes legal in Arizona,” Paul Bentz, Senior Vice President of research and strategy at HighGround says. “Of course, there is still strong opposition among some of those who represent the most conservative segments of the electorate. We should expect a legal challenge coming from that audience because at this point, that’s likely the only way they can defeat this issue.”
The possibility of getting recreational marijuana legalized in Arizona during the coming election is likely to be seen as welcome news by sector players like Green Growth Brands Inc. (CSE: GGB) (OTCQB: GGBXF) in a year that has been unexpectedly hard for the entire industry, especially given the disruptions caused by the ongoing pandemic.
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