Poll shows support for legalizing marijuana in Arizona

Arizona voters favor legalizing recreational use of marijuana through a ballot measure that will be decided in the November election, according to a new poll of likely voters.

Support for Proposition 207 came in at 45.6% versus 34.2% opposed, with about 19% of voters undecided on the matter, according to a Suffolk University/USA TODAY Network live-interview poll of 500 likely Arizona voters taken Sept. 26-30.

The Smart and Safe Arizona Act would allow adults 21 and older to possess as much as an ounce of marijuana while allowing sales at the approximately 130 existing medical-marijuana dispensaries in the state. It includes other provisions, such as allowing people previously convicted of crimes that would no longer be illegal under the act to have their records erased.

It also would place a 16% excise tax on recreational marijuana sales and offer 26 retail licenses to people historically disadvantaged by marijuana laws. The state would issue those licenses based on criteria health officials would need to create.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Respondents were about evenly split between men and women, with a similar, even, three-way split between Republicans, Democrats and independents. [Read more at azcentral.com]