The federal government has a self-imposed deadline of July 1, 2018 to legalize marijuana and effectively have in place a system for the regulation and sale of legal marijuana. While a majority, 65%, support legalization, there is considerable support (47%) for delaying the implementation according to a recent Angus Reid Institute Survey (ARI).

Effectively, however, many of the people who want the delay are already off-side on legalization so delaying is really a way of expressing their lack of interest in legalization. Thankfully the ARI information allows us to compare support for a delay among this who currently support versus currently oppose legalization.

Among supporters of legalization, 25% are interested in a delay of the implementation. This may reflect a lack of confidence in the ability to get the system in place and/ or some ambivalence about legalization itself. Support for legalization is captured as a binary choice so some of those who support may do so weakly.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from November 14 – 20 among a representative randomized sample of 1510 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.