Majority of Americans Favours Legal Cannabis

According to a new Gallup poll and poll released by Harris Insights and Analytics of Rochester, the vast majority of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana and at the same time considering cigarettes “harmful.” More than half believe recreational cannabis should be legal as well.

Harris Insights’ online survey included more than 2,000 adults. As the results show, 85 percent support legal medical cannabis, and 57 percent wants legal recreational use.

Adults younger than 34 are more in favor of legal cannabis, while those older than 65 are less supportive. Similar results were shown by Pew Research Centre, with 61 percent favoring legal marijuana. It’s a significant increase in support — from 16 percent in 1990 to 31 percent in 2000 and 61 percent to 2018.

A Gallup poll has shown that Americans think that cannabis is less harmful than tobacco products. About 96 percent of respondents answered that they believe that cigarettes are harmful. Of those, 82 percent consider that cigarettes are “very harmful.”

When asked about marijuana, 63 percent believe that it’s harmful. Of those, just 27 percent consider cannabis “very harmful.” Another 18 percent claimed that marijuana was “not at all” harmful. Around 5 percent of polled confirmed that they use marijuana on a regular basis and 8 percent said that they do it occasionally.

As we said before, it’s a massive leap in public opinion regarding cannabis use. More and more people find out about the medicinal and recreational benefits of cannabis while support for tobacco use decreases. It’s a right direction for public health, and we hope that legislation will move in this direction as well. We’ll see.

(Sweedsy in no way encourages illegal activity and would like to remind its readers that marijuana usage continues to be an offense under Federal Law, regardless of state marijuana laws. To learn more, click here.)