Over the past couple of years, public opinion on cannabis has seen a significant shift. After decades of prohibition, anti-cannabis rhetoric and harsh sentencing, plenty of people didn’t look too favorably on the controversial plant. But as more states have launched medical cannabis markets and marijuana’s possible benefits have come to light, public support for cannabis legalization has been on the rise. This has been reflected in a couple of surveys, with a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports finding that a majority of Americans support the national legalization of cannabis.
More specifically, 62% of the survey participants said that they were in favor of national legalization. Interestingly, 54% of Republicans said they supported legalization compared to 68% of Democrats and 62% of those who claimed another political affiliation. When asked whether they thought legalization should be left to the federal, state or local authorities, 47% said they favored the federal government, 32% felt legalization should be a state decision, and 11% preferred to have local authorities in charge. In addition, 53% of the participants said that they lived in a state with a legal cannabis market, and 38% lived in states that didn’t allow cannabis.
Furthermore, 50% of the respondents said that they had smoked the substance in the past while 45% reported that they hadn’t. Most of the respondents who support cannabis legalization in the country skewed younger. Only those aged 65 and older (40%) and those with incomes of more than $200,000 did not report majority support for national cannabis reform. This is the second poll over the past week to demonstrate the support for cannabis legalization among the general public. A Gallup survey released a few days ago revealed that 68% of adults in America backed legalizing marijuana, similar to what a Gallup poll found in November 2020.
Lawmakers are currently hard at work on drafting federal legalization bills. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Senator Cory Booker are working on a bill that would federally deschedule cannabis, and Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is set to unveil a bill that would federally legalize and tax marijuana to the House.
In September the House Judiciary Committee approved the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (“MORE”) Act a week after it voted in favor of a defense bill that contained language protecting banks that work with businesses in the state-legal cannabis sector.
Despite all the public support for cannabis legalization and efforts by lawmakers to craft cannabis reform, Biden still doesn’t support broad legalization. He prefers modest reform that would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level, legalize medical use and grant states the freedom to determine their own cannabis policies.
If federal marijuana law reform is finally implemented, cannabis sector actors such as BevCanna Enterprises Inc. (CSE: BEV) (OTCQB: BVNNF) (FSE: 7BC) will have a more conducive environment within which to operate, as well as a much bigger market to serve.
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