The latest poll from Angus-Reid, which has previously found that majorities (52%, 55%) in America support legalization of marijuana, shows that Americans, Canadians, and Britons do not believe we should use jail and prison to deal with marijuana smoking:

At least seven-in-ten Britons (70%), Americans (74%) and Canadians (78%) believe personal marijuana use should be dealt with through alternative penalties [such as fines, probation or community service—rather than prison for non-violent offenders.]

So given four Americans, we’re likely to find two who think marijuana use ought to be legalized (or at most ticketed), one who thinks use ought to be ticketed and fined, and one who thinks use ought to lead to prison.

Some other interesting data from the poll that I believe show impact of the War on Drugs:

• 45% of Americans are most worried about the economy, followed by unemployment (Hemp Jobs! Marijuana Tax Revenue! Billions for the Economy!)
• Only half (51%) of Americans “believe the criminal courts in their respective countries do a good job in determining whether or not an accused person is guilty”
• A little over a quarter (28%) of Americans “believe that their justice system treats every person fairly”
• Less than one-fifth (18%) of Americans “believing that [the prison system] does a good job in helping prisoners become law-abiding”
• Around only a quarter of Americans place a high level of confidence in the DEA (28%) and state criminal courts (25% – with a drop to just 17% in the West)