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.
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53 Responses to “Majority want cannabis legalised or decriminalised”
Newsbot9
I don’t support legalisation when there’s clear evidence that Portugal’s Harm Minimisation model works, and well. I’m for that. And not just for Weed.
Simon Whitten
The problem with the Portuguese model is that it does little to address supply side problems.
It does nothing to address the problem of contaminated or inconsistent supply, this results in more harm being caused than if someone were to take a regulated dose.
It also does nothing to address the way in which prohibition funds both domestic criminals and international organised crime and terrorism as well as driving other criminal activities (such as Mexico’s drugs war).
Legalisation allows us to minimise the total harm far better.
Newsbot9
That’s a valid argument, but I’d say possibly minimise. My preference for the Portugese model is that it’s been tested in a real-world environment, and it’s not limited to certain drugs. Only stopping chasing Weed won’t achieve the sort of savings a Harm Minimisation program can achieve.
(Also, and while I’d prefer not to have to consider this, because HM isn’t legalisation it will be easier to push past social conservatives)
flux5000
“Chasing weed”? I thought people did that with Heroin?
Mick
Comments like this are spiteful and hypocritical, as pot users don’t care for the law. They do it just because they wanna do it. In this context, legalising pot’s just one more way for leftists to keep lawbreakers out of jail.