Here's How Many Americans Want To See Marijuana Legalized, New Poll Reveals

Nearly two-thirds of Americans would like to see marijuana legalized, a recent poll shows.

In the new survey, conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adult citizens interviewed online from April 1 to 5 - 57% would support expunging marijuana-related convictions, while 51%  back allowing banks to provide services to marijuana businesses. 

On the other side of the spectrum, 27% of those surveyed oppose the federal legalization of cannabis.

While Democrats are, unsurprisingly, far more likely to support the change, with 72% of them voting for cannabis legalization, Republicans are evenly split on the issue, with 46% supporting, and 46% opposing it.

However, it seems that Americans are mainly divided over the legal age of a person who can legally buy cannabis: 42% said the age should be 21 and 36% leaned toward 18.

The newest data confirm the results of the Gallup poll released late last year, which showed that as many as 68% of U.S. residents support cannabis legalization. Growing support for cannabis legalization was demonstrated recently with the U.S. House of Representatives passing legislation that would legalize and tax marijuana nationwide.

Alcohol vs. Marijuana

Nevertheless, evidence of the plant’s popularity is demonstrated by another YouGov survey showing that nearly one-third of over 10 000 Americans think it would be ideal if people used more marijuana and less liquor. What’s more, the majority of U.S. adults view alcohol to be more harmful to a person’s health than marijuana.

Cannabis sales data only confirm this trend as Illinois took in more tax dollars from cannabis receipts than alcohol in 2021, according to an update released by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Recreational cannabis taxes in the Prairie State exceeded liquor taxes by nearly $100 million for the whole year after outpacing it for the first time in February 2021.

Massachusetts followed suit by bringing in $74.2 million from marijuana taxes, compared to $51.3 million from alcohol in half of the fiscal year.

Cannabis Bong Smoking Four Times More Toxic For Non-Smokers Than Tobacco Fumes

However, on the health side, there is evidence that secondhand marijuana smoke is more harmful than secondhand tobacco smoke.

Unfortunately, the list of health conditions and serious illnesses tobacco triggers in smokers, as well as non-smokers is long.

The data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that over 8,000 stroke deaths can be attributed to secondhand smoke, 7,300 deaths from lung cancer, and nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease annually in the United States among non-smokers.

The study, published in the JAMA Network Open by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that non-smokers may be exposed to air pollutants at concentrations equal to twice federal air quality limits.

Photo: Courtesy of Diyahna Lewis on Unsplash