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”
Mick
And ‘review’ doesn’t mean gouing soft. Conservatives won’t ahve lostthe plot.
Should have known the Left were up to their tricks again. They’ll stop at nothing to normalise and legalise dangerous narcotics.
Mick
And ‘review’ doesn’t mean going soft. Conservatives won’t have lost the plot.
Should have known the Left were up to their tricks again. They’ll stop at nothing to normalise and legalise dangerous narcotics.
HUGE POT HEALTH RISKS: http://www.debatepolitics.com/europe/81507-call-licensed-cannabis-sales-2.html#post1058992284
Peter Reynolds
Mick, you;’re not only very, very late to this thread, you’re also way behind the curve on the evidence. So much so that it’s really a waste of my time to have to start from the beginning with you.
All the intellectual, scientific, medical, political, economic, social arguments have been won, a long time ago. It’s just a question of how long the great immoral evil that is prohibition takes to collapse.
TransformDrugPolicy
What lies?. The article reports data from the pdf you link. The full data, questions and polling methodology was released with the press release from Transform. It clearly shows people want a review and at least half want legalisation or decrim of cannabis. Support for decrim of all drugs (as clearly defined in the question) is still a minority at around 40%.
TransformDrugPolicy
1. ‘druggies’ – pejorative term
2. we are unaware of anyone calling for cigarettes to be banned (as opposed to more effectively regulated)