The telephone survey of 604 adults Indiana residents found the majority believes that communities should direct additional resources to treatment-related approaches and cracking down on drug dealers.

Additionally, 39% of respondents said marijuana should be legal for personal use, while 42% said it should be legal only for medicinal use. Only 16% said it should not be legal at all. If marijuana remains illegal, then only 16% said that people should serve jail time for possessing small amounts.

“In considering drug problems in their community, Hoosiers seem to consider marijuana as fundamentally different than ‘hard’ street drugs, such a methamphetamine and heroin, or commonly abused prescription drugs, such as OxyContin,” said Charles Taylor, managing director of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State, which conducts the annual public opinion survey.

The Hoosier Survey found that improving school safety, improving public safety and reducing crime, improving local public schools, and attracting jobs were Hoosiers’ top four priorities.

Other findings from the survey can be seen below:

• About 24 percent of Hoosiers rate the state as an excellent place to live, a decline from 2012, when 30 percent gave the state an excellent rating.
• Overall, 40 percent said that road maintenance had improved, compared to 18 percent that indicated it had worsened.
• For the first time in several years, more Hoosiers reported that the quality of their local schools had improved than reported it had worsened, by a margin of 23 to 19 percent.
• Satisfaction with the state’s job attraction efforts continues with 69 percent of Hoosiers approving. Satisfaction is lower, however, among Hoosiers in households with less than $30,000 annual income, at 64 percent, and higher among households with income greater than $75,000, at 74 percent.
• A solid majority of Hoosiers continues to approve of the 10-cent gas tax increase and an associated increase in vehicle registration fees. Overall, 55 percent approve, compared to 38 percent who disapprove. The state’s proposal to toll interstate highways, however, is much less popular. About 1 in 5 Hoosiers approve of tolling interstates.
• About 72 percent of Hoosiers support increasing cigarette taxes; about 61 percent support increasing the smoking age to 21 years of age.
• Only 37 percent of Hoosiers favor legalized sports betting as a revenue source for the state, compared to 50 percent opposed.