Poll indicates half of voters want marijuana decriminalized

Opponents closed gap since August

A ballot proposal to decriminalize the possession of marijuana has the support of about half of Massachusetts voters as the Nov. 4 election nears, a new poll indicates.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters supported Question 2, while 32 percent opposed it, and 16 percent were undecided, according to the 7News/Suffolk University poll taken earlier this week.

In an August survey, 72 percent of those surveyed had supported decriminalization. But law enforcement officials have mobilized to oppose the proposal and have made significant progress in swaying people to their side, said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk.

"The no side has gained momentum over the past two months," Paleologos said in a statement.

"The issue is whether the brass and blue will be able to move enough additional voters to their side in 12 days."

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, one of the leaders of a broad-based coalition opposing the ballot question, said the ballot question's backers were trying to "turn our neighborhoods into the testing ground for a radical drug legalization agenda."

"Teen marijuana abuse has been declining for years, and [Question 2's] passage would undoubtedly reverse that trend. Law enforcement, educators, medical experts, and the ministerial community agree - Question 2 is bad for public health, it's bad for public safety, and it's bad public policy," Conley said in a statement.

The proposal would replace the criminal penalties for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana with a civil fine of $100, the equivalent of getting a speeding ticket.

Proponents say that if the proposal passes, those caught with marijuana would no longer be saddled with a criminal record for a minor offense.

Whitney A. Taylor - campaign manager for the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, which is advocating for Question 2 - said last night of the new poll: "Our internal polling has us comfortably ahead. We are exactly where we want to be."

Taylor said she had not yet seen the new numbers, and she would not disclose her group's internal polling results.

As to the ballot question losing support since August, she said, "We know that elected officials are working against Question 2. When that poll [in August] came out, we were as surprised as others about those numbers. We had never seen numbers that high." Taylor said the committee will continue with its campaign on radio and TV.

The statewide poll of 400 registered voters, conducted Monday through Wednesday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.