7 facts about Americans and marijuana

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

66% : Public support for marijuana legalization differs widely by age, political party, and race and ethnicity.
63% : The changing legal landscape has coincided with a dramatic increase in public support for legalization, which a majority of Americans now favor.
58% : Americans who favored legalization were most likely to cite two reasons as very important: marijuana's perceived medical benefits (86%) and the idea that legalizing the drug would free up law enforcement to focus on other types of crime (70%).
58% : Support for marijuana legalization has increased dramatically over the last two decades.
53% : Adults ages 75 and older are far less likely than younger adults to support marijuana legalization for both recreational and medical purposes, according to the October 2022 survey.
51% : In 2019, the last time the Center asked that question, two-thirds of adults expressed support for marijuana legalization, more than double the share who said they favored legalization in a 2000 Gallup survey.
46% : Supporters and opponents of marijuana legalization have cited different reasons for their views, according to a Gallup survey conducted in 2019.
41% : Among Americans who opposed marijuana legalization, 79% said a very important reason was that it would increase the number of car accidents involving drivers who use marijuana.

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