A few short weeks ago, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner announced his efforts to pass legislation that would protect state-legal marijuana businesses, as well as the fact that President Trump is said to be on board for such legislation – should it find its way to his desk. This was likely only an agreement to convince Gardner to stop holding back on his nominees for the Department of Justice, but either way, it is now very public knowledge that some sort of protection for states’ rights is finally in the works.
This information comes at a time when the CBD medication Epidiolex is under review by the Food and Drug Administration, meaning that cannabis may soon not legally be able to be classified as a Schedule I drug. Considering this, and the growing body of evidence that cannabis is a medicinal plant with many benefits, support for legalization and protection from federal interference are at an all time high.
“Voters are more favorable to legalizing marijuana than in any previous Quinnipiac University survey,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a news release.
A Quinnipiac University poll, which surveyed 1,193 voters from April 20-24 with a margin of +/- 3.4 percent, found that the opinion of voters is steadily becoming more favorable with regard to marijuana legalization. Seventy-four percent of voters were in favor of a bill protecting states with legal medical or recreational marijuana from federal prosecution, while 70 percent of voters were against the enforcement of federal laws in states that have legalized for either purpose.
The poll also found that 63 percent of voters in the U.S. are in favor of legalizing cannabis, up from 61 percent, the previous high in a Quinnipiac poll in August 2017 – so in less than a year, support has gone up another two percent. Support for medical marijuana is still standing near other polls at 93 percent in favor. They also found that 61 percent of voters no longer think that cannabis is a “gateway drug”. This is huge considering the fact that this is one of the big arguments that prohibitions still try to fall back on, so it’s reassuring to see that over half of voters know that this is false.
Support for cannabis legalization – both for medicinal uses and for recreational purposes – has grown significantly in recent years. With over half of U.S. voters in favor of legalization and regulation over prohibition and a failed War on Drugs, it is about time that one of the many efforts on a federal level to either legalize or decriminalize – or at the very least protect states’ rights to do as they see fit with the plant – is seen to completion. With a thriving industry in more than half of the country proving regulation to be a safe and lucrative alternative to prohibition, support isn’t likely to stop growing anytime soon.
Fantastic! This certainly shows the changes in public opinion and acceptance of cannabis in general, but what’s really exciting is the 93% support for medical marijuana! Hopefully polling numbers like these, as well as the growing body of research supporting the efficacy of cannabis as medicine, will lead to federal rescheduling and full reciprocity between states with medical marijuana laws.