As the US political landscape becomes more and more divided, it’s nearly impossible to find an issue that nearly every American can agree. But in a survey released earlier this week, 93 percent of voters support medical marijuana in this country and only five percent oppose it.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll, roughly tw0-thirds (63 percent) of Americans want full cannabis legalization. This the highest level of support in the history of the poll.
Among the other findings of the survey:
There is a significant gender gap when it comes to recreational cannabis consumption. Among all voters, 43 percent have used recreational marijuana at some point in their lives. But only 33 percent of women say they have tried it, compared to 54 percent of men.
Voters do not want the federal government involved in state cannabis laws by a wide margin; 70 percent of Americans want the feds to allow states to write their own laws and only 23 percent see federal interference as a good thing.
More than half (54 percent) of those surveyed believe additional tax revenue from recreational marijuana is a good reason to legalize.
The survey also demonstrates that drug warriors’ reefer madness rhetoric is a losing argument. Six out of 10 voters say that marijuana is not a gateway drug. “Voters are more favorable to legalizing marijuana than in any previous Quinnipiac University survey, and do not see its use as a gateway to more serious drugs,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
From April 20-24, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,193 voters nationwide, with a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points.
