April 20, 2021

According to a new poll, 91% of U.S. adults say either that marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use or that it should be legal for medical use only. Fewer than one-in-ten (8%) say marijuana should not be legal for use by adults. Via Pew Research:

The new survey, conducted by Pew Research Center from April 5-11, 2021, comes as congressional Democrats consider legislation that would decriminalize marijuana nationally. Views of marijuana legalization have changed very little since 2019.

A separate question that asks whether the use of marijuana should be made legal – without specifying for recreational or medical uses – has shown a steep, long-term rise in support for legalization. From 2000 to 2019, the share of Americans saying marijuana should be legal more than doubled.

There have long been age and partisan differences in views about marijuana, and that remains the case today. Very few adults of any age are completely opposed to the legalization of marijuana. However, older adults are far less likely than young people to favor marijuana legalization for recreational use.

This is particularly the case among adults ages 75 and older: Just 32% say marijuana should be legal for recreational and medical use, by far the lowest share for any age category and 21 percentage points lower than adults in the next-oldest age group, those ages 65 to 74 (53% of whom say it should be legal for both recreational and medical use).

Pot for me but not for thee? That seems to be the prevailing attitude among the elderly. I think a lot of that is that old folks think about pot for arthritis, etc., but they don't see pot as a legitimate tool for dealing with anxiety and stress.

In any event, there's steady progress. Happy 4/20 day!

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