As many across the country mark April 20’s unofficial marijuana holiday, data reveals that more Americans are in support of legalization than previously thought.
While the substance is still considered illegal under federal law, numbers from Pew Research show that the legal landscape is shifting. Here are a few things to know about marijuana in the US.
1. Almost 90 percent of Americans believe medical or recreational use should be legal
According to an October 2022 survey from PRC, 59 percent of Americans believe recreational marijuana use should be legalized, and 30 percent believe it should be legal for medical use. Only ten percent believe it shouldn’t be legal under any circumstance.
Among racial demographics, 68 percent of Black and 60 percent of White Americans believe it should be legal, in opposition to 49 percent of Hispanic and 48 percent of Asian Americans. Younger adults are also much more likely to support marijuana legalization. Across party lines, Democrats and Republicans who support legalization for both uses sit at 73 percent and 45 percent, respectively.
2. This means Americans support erasing penalties and criminal records, too
In a 2021 PRC survey, 61 percent of adults favored releasing people in prison for marijuana related offenses, with 41 percent strongly in favor. Nearly 75 percent of Black adults agreed.
This support across the board is a dramatic increase within the last twenty years. Those who favor legalization today double the amount who did in 2000, and have increased five times from the amount in favor at the beginning of the 1970s. In short: marijuana legalization has never been more popular, even from before the infamous war on drugs.
This is in spite of the fact that less than half of US adults say they’ve ever used marijuana, according to a 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Use of marijuana (46 percent), is less than that of both alcohol (78 percent) and tobacco (57 percent).
3. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana use — that’s over half the country
Despite federal law, many states have pushed to legalize the substance on their own. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington have all legalized recreational use.
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia all allow medical marijuana use. The laws vary, but this means 38 states and DC have legalized marijuana in some form.
Only in twelve states — Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — is the substance fully illegal.
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