As state after state continues to consider following Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana use, such actions have begun to garner substantial support.

New Pew research finds:

Public opinion about legalizing marijuana, while little changed in the past few years, has undergone a dramatic long-term shift. A new survey finds that 53% favor the legal use of marijuana, while 44% are opposed. As recently as 2006, just 32% supported marijuana legalization, while nearly twice as many (60%) were opposed.

Only people in the age group from 70 to 87 were primarily opposed.

Pew researchers found one factor was at the foundation of opinion:

When asked, in their own words, why they favor or oppose legalizing marijuana, people on opposite sides of the issue offer very different perspectives. But a common theme is the danger posed by marijuana: Supporters of legalization mention its perceived health benefits, or see it as no more dangerous than other drugs. To opponents, it is a dangerous drug, one that inflicts damage on people and society more generally.

Medical experts and doctors apparently have not convinced the broader population, although these groups are almost certainly divided as well.

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The eventual tie breaker in the argument already has become a powerful case for legalization, and it is an economic one. Colorado authorities recently reported that taxes, licenses and fees from marijuana sales in the state reached $9.1 million in February, on the way to an annual number likely to be more than $100 million for the state’s fiscal year.

Given the revenue problems in so many states, marijuana legalization will spread from state to state like wildfire.

Methodology: The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 25 to 29 among 1,500 adults.

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