The pattern of opinion about legalizing marijuana has changed little in recent years. Beyond the wide generation gap in support for legalization, there continue to be demographic and partisan differences. Both parties are ideologically divided over legalizing marijuana.
Views on federal enforcement of marijuana laws are unchanged since the question was first asked two years ago. While most Americans support legalizing marijuana, there are concerns about public use of the drug, if it were to become legal. Like overall views of legalizing marijuana, these views have changed little in recent years.
As might be expected, there are sharp differences in these concerns between people who favor and oppose legalizing marijuana. Similar percentages reported using marijuana in the prior 12 months in two previous surveys, conducted in February and March However, there are differences within each party by ideology. In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. Please support our research with a financial contribution. It organizes the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values.
Even in a polarized era, the survey reveals deep divisions in both partisan coalitions. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. President Michael Dimock explains why. But while they may support some reforms, they feel that legalization simply goes too far — and could lead to worse consequences than the alternatives. In total, millions of people across the US report wanting to quit marijuana and being unable to despite negative consequences.
The most thorough review of the research yet, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine , linked marijuana use to a variety of other potential downsides, including respiratory issues if smoked , schizophrenia and psychosis , car crashes, lagging academic and other social achievements, and lower birth weight if smoked during pregnancy.
The studies reviewed also suggest it carries several benefits, particularly for chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. The National Academies report emphasized that more research is needed, with a lot of unknowns remaining about marijuana use and its effects.
For one, the research has yet to prove if all the problems correlated with cannabis use are actually caused by pot. After all, correlation is not causation. According to surveys from Gallup , support for legalization rose from 12 percent in to 31 percent in to 66 percent in The Pew Research Center found that support varies from generation to generation, although it has been rising among all age groups over the past few years.
As it stands, more than two-thirds of millennials back legalizing marijuana, while support is lower among older groups. The change in public opinion is part of a broader pushback against punitive criminal justice policies and the war on drugs in general. A Pew survey found 63 percent of Americans agree states should move away from harsh mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, and 67 percent said drug policy should focus more on providing treatment over prosecuting drug users.
Instead, Americans are broadly fed up with drug and criminal justice policies that have contributed to higher incarceration rates while doing little to solve ongoing drug crises. Even as several states and Washington, DC, allow marijuana, the federal government still strictly prohibits pot. That classification puts marijuana in the same category as heroin and a more restrictive category than schedule 2 drugs like cocaine and meth.
The big distinction between schedule 1 and 2 substances, instead, is whether the federal government thinks a drug has medical value. The DEA says schedule 2 substances have some medical value and schedule 1 substances do not, so schedule 1 drugs receive more regulatory scrutiny even though they may not be more dangerous. Those kinds of studies are traditionally required to prove a drug has medical value to the federal government.
But these studies are also much more difficult to conduct when a substance is strictly regulated by the federal government as a schedule 1 drug. Congress can also pass legislation to reschedule marijuana, which legalization advocates have been lobbying legislators to do for decades.
The Trump administration suggested it would take a tougher line under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but current Attorney General William Barr backed off the tougher approach and said he would more or less go back to the Obama-era policies.
Many state-legal marijuana businesses, for instance, must function as cash-only enterprises , since many banks are nervous about dealing with businesses that are essentially breaking federal law. One concern here is whether the federal government would be in violation of international law if it legalized marijuana. A host of international treaties explicitly ban the legalization of marijuana sales for recreational purposes. As states have legalized, the US has argued that it remains in good standing of these treaties by keeping pot illegal at the federal level.
But that would change if Congress and the president legalized marijuana. So far, Canada and Uruguay have generally dodged scrutiny over their violation of these treaties. But the US is a much bigger country than either. So even as states and voters back marijuana legalization, the federal government remains in the way.
So far, it seems to be going fine. Then-Colorado Gov. Colorado, which has the oldest system for recreational marijuana sales, has seen a rise in adult use, but not in use among youth. Although there were concerns about drug-impaired car crashes, the evidence is mixed. One concern that has consistently come up is the risk of marijuana edibles, which a recent study linked to a rapid increase in marijuana-related hospitalizations at a Colorado hospital after legalization. The proliferation of edibles under legalization, then, may be leading to more bad, unpleasant trips.
Critics of legalization also argue that edibles are marketed irresponsibly, since they can take the form of child-friendly snacks like gummy bears and cereals.
So since legalization, regulators have taken a tougher approach toward edibles — restricting them, requiring stronger packaging and labels, and even banning some of them. The story is broadly similar in other states, with some variation depending on state-specific circumstances. No big negative stories have come out of legalization, at least yet. Changing the marijuana laws in these states and more to come is one of the first steps in dismantling the racially motivated war on drugs.
Malik Burnett is a former surgeon and physician advocate. He also served as executive director of a medical marijuana nonprofit organization. View more Ask the Expert blog posts. This site is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. Through this site and linkages to other sites, the Drug Policy Alliance provides general information for educational purposes only. The information provided in this site, or through linkages to other sites, is not medical advice and is not a substitute for medical or professional care.
The Drug Policy Alliance is not liable or responsible for any advice or information you obtain through this site. October 8, That excuse became marijuana. Sincerely, The Doctors Dr. General Disclaimer: Site Provides No Medical Advice This site is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual.
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