Most Americans feel that cannabis should be legalized for at least medicinal use

Washington, DC, April 19, 2022 – A new Ipsos poll finds that most Americans still support legalizing cannabis for at least medicinal use, an opinion that's held constant since last year. Younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to support legalizing cannabis for recreational and medicinal use. They also are more likely than their older counterparts to believe that cannabis isn’t as dangerous to their health as tobacco or alcohol.

Yet, if cannabis was legal in their area, majorities of Americans, regardless of age or race, would support releasing people serving time in jail for cannabis-related charges or removing prior arrests or convictions of cannabis-related charges from someone’s criminal record. Partisans largely don’t agree on these issues, though if cannabis use was legal, there would be bipartisan support for taxes from cannabis sales going to local public schools.

Detailed Findings

A majority of Americans (69%) feel that cannabis should be legalized for at least medicinal use, a view that is unchanged from last year.

• Just under half of Americans (46%) feel that cannabis should be legalized for recreational and medicinal use. An additional 23% agree that the federal government should legalize cannabis for medicinal use only. 
• Compared to older Americans, more younger Americans believe that cannabis isn’t as dangerous to their health as tobacco or alcohol. Half (48%) of all Americans feel that cannabis is less harmful to one’s health than tobacco or alcohol, with younger people more likely to feel this way than older ones (52% of people under 35 agree vs. 37% of people 65+). Still, overall, about one in three (32%) feel that cannabis will lead people to use more addictive drugs.
• Views on cannabis legalization largely don’t change when considering whether people live in states where cannabis use is fully legal, approved for medicinal use, or not fully legal.

Additionally, if cannabis use was legal, majorities of Americans, regardless of age or race, would support restorative justice measures for people who have a criminal record or are serving time for a cannabis/marijuana-related charge.

• For example, if cannabis was legal in their area, over two in three Americans under 35 (69%) and those 35-49 (65%) support releasing those serving time in jail for a cannabis-related charge. A majority of people (56%) over 65 also back this measure. Similar majorities also support removing prior arrests or convictions of cannabis-related offenses from someone’s criminal record.
• Likewise, should cannabis be legal in their area, majorities of Black (67%), Hispanic (62%), and white (54%) Americans support investing a portion of the taxes collected from legal sales of cannabis into communities disproportionately affected by drug arrests.

While partisans do not agree on many of the measures described above, there is bipartisan agreement around using taxes from cannabis sales, if it was legal, to fund local public schools.

• Many Americans (71%) feel that, if cannabis was legal in their area, taxes from those sales should go to local public schools. Majorities of Republicans (64%), Democrats (77%), and independents (74%) would support this measure.

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 1-4, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,021 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points for all respondents.