Poll Finds Most Americans Support Legal Pot and Oppose Treating Drug Users As Criminals

A new
Pew Research Center poll confirms that most Americans (54
percent)
think marijuana should be legal and finds that an even bigger
majority (75 percent) believes pot prohibition eventually will be
repealed throughout the country. More than two-thirds of
respondents (69 percent)
agreed with President Obama that alcohol is more hazardous to
health than marijuana, while just 15 percent said marijuana is more
dangerous. Three-quarters of respondents said people should not go
to jail for smoking pot.

Respondents also expressed reservations about criminalizing the
use of other drugs. Two-thirds said the government should “focus
more” on “providing treatment for those who use illegal drugs such
as heroin and cocaine,” rather than prosecuting them. Although that
question leaves no room for heroin or cocaine users who are neither
criminals nor patients, it does suggest a less punitive attitude
than previous polls have found, which is consistent with rising
support for moving away from mandatory minimum sentences for
nonviolent drug offenses. Sixty-three percent of respondents deemed
that trend “a good thing” in this year’s poll, up from 47 percent
nin 2001. Pew concludes that “the public appears ready for a truce
in the long-running war on drugs.” More like a de-escalation, I’d
say, but still encouraging.