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With less than a month to go before marijuana is legalized in Canada a new poll suggests Canadians are suffering anxiety over the potential impact on impaired driving, organized crime and use among minors.

The study from the Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians are three times as likely to say that measures in the law will fail rather than succeed at preventing minors from accessing cannabis after October 17, and twice as likely to say they lack confidence in the ability of their community police to assess and punish those driving under the influence of marijuana.

A majority, some 62 per cent say they support legalization, but they are evenly divided about the ability of the government to weaken the earnings of organized crime in the near future.

Experts believe legal pot will be more expensive and less available than illicit forms of marijuana, at least in the first years of implementation.

The study also indicates 51 per cent of those surveyed say they are worried that the province isn't ready and are ill-prepared for the looming legalization on October 17.