With the majority of states now having legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, a new poll signals that cannabis’s normalization has left many people feeling neutral about how the policy impacts society—though more say the reform has been “good” than believe it has been “bad.”
The survey from NBC News was carried out by SurveyMonkey. It asked more than 30,000 Americans their opinions on a range of issues including legalization.
The survey asked: “Considering that recreational marijuana has been legalized in many parts of the United States, are you generally inclined to think it is a good or bad thing?
The majority of 44 percent said that legalization is neither good nor evil. This was followed by 29 per cent who thought it was good for the society, and 27 per cent who believed it to be bad.
A demographic breakdown of the survey was also done by the pollsters to target Gen Z adults between 18 and 29 years old. A similar number (45%) expressed neutrality when asked about the impact legalization of cannabis would have on society. However, a larger percentage of younger generations (33%) said that the policy was good for the community. Other 23 percent also said that its effect was negative.
This broader study involved 30,196 adult interviews from August 13 through September 1. The margin of error was +/-1.9 percentage points. The narrower survey included 2970 adults who are part of the Gen Z generation.
This poll focused on the societal impact of legalization. However, another survey conducted earlier this month showed that 65 per cent of voters registered agreed that reform is generally a “good policy”.
All of this is happening as stakeholders and advocates await the decision by President Donald Trump regarding a modest proposal for rescheduling, on which he stated that a final decision would be made imminently.
This is the latest of a number of polls that investigate public opinion regarding cannabis reform.
For example, recently released polling data from the Pew Research Center found that an overwhelming majority of Americans—nearly nine in 10—support legalizing marijuana in some form.
Another recent survey from the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR), which was conducted by the firm Forbes Tate Partners, showed that seven in 10 American voters want to see the end of federal marijuana prohibition—and nearly half say they’d view the Trump administration more favorably if it took action on the issue.
A poll released in June that MEDCAN24 partnered on with the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD showed that a majority of marijuana consumers disapprove of the Trump administration’s actions on cannabis policy to date, but there’s also a significant willingness among users to shift their position if the federal government opts to reschedule or legalize marijuana.
Earlier this year, meanwhile, a firm associated with Trump—Fabrizio, Lee & Associates—also polled Americans on a series of broader marijuana policy issues. Notably, it found that a majority of Republicans back cannabis rescheduling—and, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.
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This poll shows that the Trump administration has been considering a move to Schedule III from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act.
Recenty, nine Republican members of Congress have called upon the U.S. attorneys general to refuse what they deemed a “corrupt” and “flawed” proposal for rescheduling marijuana.
In contrast to that letter from GOP lawmakers, a leading drug policy reform group recently launched a petition urging the president to go further than rescheduling by legalizing marijuana altogether.
Philip Steffan provided the photo.