A majority of the public want cannabis legalised or decriminalised, including a majority of Conservative and Labour voters.
Most British people want cannabis legalised or decriminalised and two thirds want a comprehensive review of drugs policy, according to a new poll by Ipsos MORI.
Over half the public (53%) support the legalisation or decriminalisation of the possession of cannabis, and only 1 in 7 believe in tougher penalties and more money being spent on enforcement for cannabis offences.
Interestingly the survey, which sampled 946 adults between January 25 and February 5, also looked at attitudes to drugs based on newspaper readership and found some surprising results.
It found that 45% of mid-market newspaper readers (including readers of the Daily Mail and the Express) support the legalisation of cannabis, and just one in five (17%) support heavier penalties and more money spent on enforcement.
Among tabloid readers the figures were 47% and 20% respectively.
According to the data, 61% of Daily Mail readers want a full review of drug policy.
Surprisingly perhaps, 70% of Conservative supporters compared to 69% of Labour supporters believe a full review of all the drug policy options is required.
A spokesperson from drugs think tank Transform said the results show how far ahead of politicians the public are.
“Politicians have repeated their ‘tough on drugs’ propaganda for so long that they assume the public are more fearful of change than they really are. In fact the world has changed, and the public are far more progressive than was thought, right across the political spectrum.
53 Responses to “Majority want cannabis legalised or decriminalised”
Muzzy Lu
Oh, come on! Death and destruction, dogs eating cats, all because of demon marijuana! It’s so stupid to fight marijuana; it is effective, safe, and has over a thousand years of use. Marijuana is a very healthy food if taken as an edible, not smoked. There is a great $2.99 e-book on medical marijuana: MARIJUANA – Guide to Buying, Growing, Harvesting, and Making Medical Marijuana Oil and Delicious Candies to Treat Pain and Ailments by Mary Bendis, Second Edition. This book has great recipes for easy marijuana oil, delicious Cannabis Chocolates, and tasty Dragon Teeth Mints.
McD
Prohibition is an extension of slavery. You could also say, ‘all of this ‘war-on-drugs’ nonsense is just a smokescreen for the Abrahamic religions’ ongoing repression of gnosis,’ but not a lot of people would understand that, and far fewer would like to understand it than would like to hurt you for trying to help anyone understand it or for understanding it yourself, so probably better just to keep quiet (for the time being).
Malcolm Kyle
Prohibitionists are neither civil nor productive members of society, they are soulless parasites and inhuman, oppressive criminals from whom protection is required.
Peter Reynolds
If we introduced a legally regulated system we would solve nearly all the problems around cannabis. Science proves how much safer it is than tobacco, alcohol, prescription medicines and all other recreational drugs. The evidence is that where legal regulation is introduced, consumption by children and all health and social harms are reduced.
Doctors would be able to prescribe one of the most effective medicines that has no serious side effects at all. At the moment the government has given GW Pharmaceuticals an illegal monopoly on cannabis so they make millions out of a medicine that you can grow in your greenhouse for virtually nothing.
CLEAR Cannabis Law Reform commissioned independent, expert research that shows a tax and regulate policy on cannabis would produce a net gain to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion pa.
Our present policy on cannabis is irrational, irresponsible and dangerous. On 6th November 2012 Colorado and Washington state legalised cannabis for adults, Surely, this inevitable and long overdue reform will now begin to roll out across the world?
Mark Page
Politicians love to talk about the ‘harm’ cannabis causes despite the overwhelming evidence of the complete opposite. Their blinkered arrogance results in children buying untested chemicals from China to smoke which ARE known to be harmful but because it’s ‘legal’ and they print ‘not for human consumption’ on the pack the government is happy to turn a blind eye and take the tax money.
It’s about time people started to realise that politicians have only the interest of big companies, mostly pharmaceuticals but also the breweries, at heart when it comes to discussing cannabis.
If they had the interest in the well being and health of the people who vote for them they would decriminalise all drug use immediately and invest the money from the ridiculous ‘war on drugs’ into the medical care that most hard drug users really need and leave the majority of us to enjoy a spliff in the evening or at the weekend without being branded a criminal or a danger to society.