Disagreeing With Themselves, Coloradans Say Rules for Marijuana Use Should Be Stricter Than Rules for Alcohol Use

According to Quinnipiac University
poll results released yesterday, 61 percent of Colorado voters

agree with President Obama that marijuana is less “harmful to a
person’s health” than alcohol, while an additional 14 percent think
the two drugs are equally harmful. Similarly, 59 percent said
marijuana is less “harmful to society,” and another 15 percent said
it is equally dangerous by that measure. It is not surprising,
then, that 71 percent of respondents thought “laws regulating the
use of marijuana in Colorado” should be either “less strict” than
laws regulating the use of alcohol or “about as strict.” But do
they really mean it?

Perhaps not. In the same poll, more than three-fifths of
respondents said marijuana consumption should be prohibited in
“bars and clubs where alcohol is served” and at “entertainment
events where admission is charged.” A plurality (49 percent) even
opposed allowing marijuana consumption at “invitation-only
entertainment events where no admission is charged,” such as the
Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s “Classically Cannabis” concert
series. At the same time, 66 percent said cannabis consumption
should be allowed in “members-only marijuana clubs.” The latter two
positions seem to be a mirror image of the policy enforced by
Denver, which
allowed the concerts to proceed as invitation-only fundraisers
but last month
raided Maryjane’s Social Club, a members-only hangout for
cannabis consumers.

In any case, the rules for marijuana use endorsed in this poll
are clearly stricter than the rules for alcohol use, even though a
large majority of respondents said they shouldn’t be. What gives?
I’m not sure, but the same sort of contradiction is apparent in

Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot initiative that legalized
recreational marijuana in Colorado. Although the amendment says
“marijuana should be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol,” it
also says decriminalization does not apply to “consumption that is
conducted openly and publicly,” which remains a
petty offense under Colorado law. Nobody is sure what “openly
and publicly” means in this context, but Denver has interpreted it
to cover consumption in any location open to the public. Even if
you define the phrase more narrowly, marijuana clearly is not being
“regulated in a manner similar to alcohol,” which can be consumed
in both indoor and outdoor seating of bars and restaurants as well
as a wide variety of entertainment venues.

The main concern here seems to be not public safety so much as
public sensibilities, especially since the ban on its face does not
apply to consumption that is discreet enough to escape attention
(such as sucking on a cannabis-infused mint or, arguably, using a
vape pen that looks just like an e-cigarette). Denver officials are
terrified of anything resembling Amsterdam’s cannabis cafés, and
even supporters of legalization who would be happy to patronize
such establishments may worry that flagrant toking will trigger a
backlash. That sort of ambivalence may help explain the
inconsistent poll results.

According to this poll, support for Amendment 64, at 54 percent,
remains about what it was the day the initiative passed. That’s a
bit bigger than the 51 percent who admitted using marijuana at some
point in their lives. Just 16 percent of respondents said they had
consumed cannabis since legal recreational sales began in
January.