Washington Post by Aaron Blake 10/24/2022
Monmouth University released a new poll Monday finding that nearly 7 in 10 Americans — 68 percent — support legalizing small amounts for personal use, compared with just 26 percent who oppose it.
The poll comes as President Biden in recent weeks moved to pardon anyone convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing the drug, and urged governors to do the same at the state level. (The poll shows 69 percent support those pardons.) He also said his administration would review marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug, a category that includes heroin.
Compared with 25 years ago, the poll numbers regarding marijuana legalization have flipped. In 1997, an ABC News poll showed just 22 percent supported legalizing possession of small amounts for personal use, and three-quarters opposed it.
The Monmouth poll suggests the march toward legalized marijuana is likely to continue. For instance, far fewer people said marijuana was more dangerous than alcohol (7 percent to 54 percent) and tobacco (13 percent to 45 percent). It shows just 3 in 10 view marijuana as at least a “moderately serious” problem — down from half in a 2014 CNN poll. And support for legalization is nearly at consensus levels among younger people, with 87 percent of those under 35 years old supporting it.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/24/marijuana-same-sex-marriage-legalization/
