More Americans now than ever before believe the use of marijuana should be legalized, according to the results of a CBS poll released at a particularly appropriate time.
Sixty-one percent of Americans think using marijuana should be legalized. This number is up five points from last year, when CBS did the same poll, and it’s the highest it’s ever been in the 38 years that the poll has been conducted. Even more people think the drug should be legalized for medical uses, with 88 percent in favor.
And it might be one of the only issues that politicians on both sides of the aisle can agree upon on any level. The poll found that 63 percent of Republicans think the government should keep its nose out of the states that have already legalized marijuana. Unsurprisingly, most Democrats and Independents think so, too.
The poll also found that most Americans think marijuana is generally safer than alcohol, and if the respondents had tried marijuana in the past, they found it even less dangerous as compared to other drugs.
According to the poll, roughly half of all Americans have tried marijuana at least once. The number of people who say they’ve tried it has risen pretty consistently with, if not faster than the number of people who support its legalization.
Happy 4/20, folks!