Yesterday marked the first time in history that a nationwide poll showed majority support for taxing and regulating marijuana (at 52%).  The poll, conducted by Zogby International at the end of April, was also one of the largest sample sizes of any national polls on the subject, with almost 4,000 respondents and a margin of error of +/- 1.6%.

This poll, in combination with recent trends, is further evidence that Americans are quickly realizing the value of taxing and regulating marijuana. Congress, however,  is often slow to keep up. If you want to push Congress to act, visit mpp.org/federal-action, where MPP's online system makes it fast and easy to ask your member of Congress to end 70 years of failed marijuana prohibition.

Looking beyond the top-line level of majority support to the cross tabulations, where support and opposition are shown among numerous variables, we can build a helpful profile of marijuana legalization supporters:

Age: Taxing and regulating marijuana enjoys majority support across every age group except for the over-65 crowd, which registers 44% support.

Region: Voters in the East (52%) and West (60%) are more likely than voters in the South (48%) or the Midwest (48%) to support taxing and regulating marijuana.

Culture: Those who never shop at Wal-Mart (72%) are more than twice as likely to support marijuana legalization than regular Wal-Mart shoppers (35%).  NASCAR fans (38%) are significantly less likely to support it than non-fans (54%).

Religion: Jewish voters (76%) were more likely than Catholics (47%) or Protestants (45%) to support legalizing marijuana.  Voters who consider themselves “born again” (33%) are far less likely to support it than voters who are not “born again” (55%).

Party affiliation: Democratic Party members are the most likely to support legalizing marijuana (68%), with Independents showing strong majority support (54%).  Liberals (79%) are the most likely to support it, with moderates (58%) trailing by 21 points and conservatives (25%) trailing fully 54 points behind liberals.

Presidential election: Those who voted for President Obama (69%) were much more likely to support legalizing marijuana than McCain voters (30%).

In yet another sign of the growing acceptance for marijuana policy reform, MPP's Rob Kampia appeared on MSNBC and CNBC yesterday to discuss California Gov. Arnold Schwarzegger's recent statement supporting an open discussion about ending marijuana prohibition.

You can see his MSNBC appearance here and the CNBC one in which he debates former drug czar official and lifelong drug warrior Kevin Sabet here. (Just to prove it's really live TV, you'll notice Rob's audio feed cuts out at one point, causing him to talk over Sabet for a bit. Aw, shucks.)

By the way, here's a shot of Rob during his MSNBC appearance that we kind of got a chuckle out of. I mean, drug warriors love accusing marijuana policy reformers of supporting terrorism, but actually being a terrorist? Now that's playing hardball.

MPP's Rob Kampia debates the benefits of taxing and regulation marijuana like alcohol with Kevin Sabet, drug policy advisor to the Clinton and Bush administrations. This segment aired a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for an open discussion of marijuana reform as a means to solve California's financial problems.

Yesterday, San Francisco supervisors formally condemned the March DEA raid conducted against a local medical marijuana facility, Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic. In a 9-to-2 vote, the board approved a resolution authored by Supervisor David Campos that calls for the immediate cessation of such attacks on medical marijuana in California.

The resolution calls on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to provide clear direction to the DEA and federal judges and prosecutors on President Obama's new policy on medical marijuana. It also calls for the return of "improperly seized" property from the raids and the dismissal of all federal cases involving medical marijuana collective operators who acted in compliance with state law.

It's not surprising that San Francisco opposes the federal war on medical marijuana, but this casts even more doubt on the dubious DEA claim that agents raided the clinic in response to an apparent violation of state law. To date, there have been no arrests linked to the raid and no specific allegations about state law violations have been made.

Intense media interest in proposals to tax and regulate marijuana continues, given a big boost by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's statement Tuesday that the issue is worthy of debate.

MPP executive director Rob Kampia discussed the issue earlier today on MSNBC (we hope to have video posted soon) and will debate a to-be-named prohibitionist tonight on CNBC's "CNBC Reports." The program airs from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time, and we're told the marijuana segment will be around 8:30, barring any last-minute changes that are always possible in TV land.

MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia responds to statements by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that it is time for an open debate on the benefits of taxing and regulating marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol on MSNBC. 05/06/2009

At a press conference today, Calif. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was asked about a recent poll finding that 56% of the state's voters support taxing and regulating marijuana as a means of bridging the state budget gap. While not endorsing the idea, Schwarzenegger did say it deserves a healthy debate.

From The Sacramento Bee:

"Well, I think it's not time for that, but I think it's time for a debate," Schwarzenegger said. "I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?"

He said his native Austria is revisiting some of its marijuana laws, for instance. The Austrian Parliament last year authorized medical marijuana.

"It could very well be that everyone is happy with that decision and then we could move to that," Schwarzenegger said of other nations' legalization policies. "If not, we shouldn't do it. But just because of raising revenues ... we have to be careful not to make mistakes at the same time.

Until recently, marijuana prohibition has been the proverbial elephant in the room that most politicians have avoided discussing. Schwarzenegger, himself a past consumer of marijuana, heads the executive branch of the largest state government in the United States and presides over the fifth largest economy on the planet.

Former drug czar John Walters wants Americans to believe that his draconian policies caused drug use to drop, especially among young people. He and his spokespeople credited their ad campaigns for cutting teen drug use, despite expert evaluations that showed otherwise. And in a pair of Wall Street Journal op-eds published this March and April Walters again warned against any change of course that might deviate from his alleged "success."

This is not news, but it's important to address because this line of argument will be raised against any effort by the Obama administration or Congress to shift even modestly toward more rational marijuana policies.

Fortunately, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has neatly, if unintentionally, debunked Walters' claims in its 2008 World Drug Report.

Yes, U.S. drug use did decline a bit during his tenure, according to government surveys. But if Walters' policies -- particularly his saturation anti-marijuana advertising and PR blitz -- were responsible, then marijuana use in the U.S. should have declined more than in other countries. It didn't.

In a telling series of graphs starting on page 113, the U.N. report shows that the decline in teen marijuana use in the U.S. actually began in 1998, well before Walters took office. More importantly, many other countries that didn't go on an anti-marijuana jihad saw comparable or even greater declines, including Spain, France, Britain, and Australia. The decline in marijuana use among British teens and adults not only continued after Britain ended most marijuana possession arrests in 2004, it accelerated.

What's striking about the graphs is how similar many of them are, despite widely differing government policies toward marijuana. It's hard to avoid concluding that social trends are playing a much larger role than any government policies, and that Walters' alleged successes are simply the product of his own imagination.

One of California’s most respected polling firms, Field Research, just released data showing that 56% of registered voters in the state support legalizing and taxing marijuana as a means of generating revenue for the ailing state budget.

The poll asked voters for their opinions on various tax proposals. Making marijuana legal turned out to be among the most popular. The marijuana tax beat out carbon taxes, gas taxes, and business property taxes, among others.

Hopefully this poll will ensure that A.B. 390, a state bill to tax and regulate marijuana in California, will pick up more support in Sacramento.

The Washington Post also just released a national poll showing that 46% of Americans support “legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use.” To put this number into perspective, Americans are now more likely to support marijuana legalization than approve of either party's job performance in Congress.

Earlier today, MPP announced the launch of a TV ad campaign in New Hampshire. The ad features Sandy Drew, a retired nurse and multiple sclerosis sufferer, and calls on Gov. John Lynch (D) to sign the medical marijuana bill.

The Senate passed the bill yesterday by a 14-10 vote. It now heads back to the House (which easily passed it last month) to accept the minor changes the Senate made to the bill. Gov. Lynch could then either sign it, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

Sandy’s ad is airing on WMUR and major cable stations including CNN, Fox, and MSNBC throughout the state. You can watch it here now:

Gov. Lynch has expressed concerns about the bill, but has not said what he will do once the bill reaches his desk. If you live in New Hampshire, please join with the courageous patients like Sandy and urge Gov. Lynch to sign the medical marijuana bill.