New poll shows how many Americans want to see marijuana legalized
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Nearly two-thirds of Americans would like to see marijuana legalized, a recent poll shows.
In the new poll, conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed online April 1-5, 57% would support overturning of marijuana-related convictions, while 51% would support it % are in favor of allowing banks to provide services to marijuana companies.
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On the other end of the spectrum, 27% of respondents oppose state legalization of cannabis.
While Democrats, unsurprisingly, are much more likely to support the change, with 72% voting in favor of legalizing cannabis, Republicans are evenly split on the issue, with 46% in favor and 46% against.
However, it appears that Americans are mainly divided on the legal age of a person to legally purchase cannabis: 42% said the age should be 21 and 36% leaned towards 18.
The latest data confirms the results of the Gallup poll released late last year, which showed that up to 68% of US citizens support legalizing cannabis. Growing support for legalizing cannabis was recently evident when the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would legalize and tax marijuana nationwide.
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Alcohol vs Marijuana
Still, the plant’s popularity is backed up by another YouGov poll, which shows nearly a third of over 10,000 Americans think the ideal would be if people consumed more marijuana and less alcohol. In addition, the majority of adults in the United States consider alcohol to be more harmful to their health than marijuana.
RELATED: Americans are choosing marijuana over alcohol
Cannabis sales data only confirms this trend, as Illinois earned more tax dollars from cannabis revenue than alcohol in 2021, according to an update released by the Illinois Department of Treasury. Recreational cannabis taxes in the state of Prairie exceeded alcohol taxes for the full year by almost $100 million after topping them for the first time in February 2021.
Massachusetts followed suit, bringing in $74.2 million from marijuana taxes, compared to $51.3 million from alcohol for the fiscal half.
Smoking cannabis bongs is four times more toxic to non-smokers than tobacco fumes
On the health side, however, there is evidence that second-hand marijuana smoke is more harmful than second-hand tobacco smoke.
Unfortunately, the list of health problems and serious illnesses that tobacco causes in smokers and non-smokers alike is long.
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RELATED: Second-hand bong smoke is way more toxic than tobacco — here’s why
Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that among non-smokers in the United States annually, passive smoking accounts for over 8,000 deaths from stroke, 7,300 deaths from lung cancer, and nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease.
The study, published by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in the JAMA Network Open found that non-smokers can be exposed to air pollutants at levels twice federal air quality limits.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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