November 18, 2011 6:00 AM

Poll: Public supports medical marijuana, but not full pot legalization

By
Fred Backus
Topics
Polling ,
Domestic Issues
Gavel and marijuana (Credit: iStockphoto)

According a recent CBS News poll conducted at the end of October, a slim majority of 51 percent continues to think that marijuana use should be illegal. But support for specifically allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for serious medical conditions - or legalized "medical" marijuana - is far stronger: 77 percent Americans think it should be allowed.

Still, even though most Americans support this, just three in 10 believe that the marijuana currently being bought in this country under state-authorized medical marijuana programs is being used in the way it has been authorized: for alleviating suffering from serious medical conditions.

Legalizing Marijuana

A recent CBS News Poll conducted nationwide finds 40 percent of Americans think the use of marijuana should be legal, while 51 percent think it should not. The percentage that favors legalizing marijuana use has been steady for the past two years, but it is larger than it was when CBS News first asked the question back in 1979.

(Credit: CBS News Poll)

Not all demographic groups view this issue the same, however:

  • Younger Americans support legalizing marijuana more than older Americans. Slightly more than half of those under thirty favor legalizing the substance (52 percent), while Americans between 30 and 44 are divided. Older Americans tend to oppose legalizing marijuana, particularly those 65 and older (62 percent).
  • Most women (54 percent) oppose legalizing marijuana, but men are divided: 46 percent of men favor legalizing it, while 47 percent oppose.
  • Regionally, support for legalizing marijuana is strongest in the West, a region that includes 10 of the 16 states that have some form of legalized medical marijuana use. Forty-eight percent of Americans in western states think marijuana use should be legal compared to 45 percent who think it should not be.
  • There are differences in terms of both party affiliation and political philosophy. Seven in 10 Republicans oppose legalizing marijuana, while Democrats are divided and independents lean towards legalizing it. Two in three liberals think marijuana should be legal while two in three conservatives think it should not be, and moderates are divided.

(Credit: CBS News Poll)

Medical Marijuana

(Credit: CBS News Poll)
While a slight majority of Americans oppose the idea of legalizing marijuana in general, more than three in four think that doctors should be allowed to prescribe small amounts of marijuana for patients suffering from serious illnesses - the conditions for use that are set up in all of the states that have legalized medical marijuana programs. Support for this cuts across age, gender, region, and political affiliation.

But Americans are skeptical that most of the marijuana purchased in the U.S. through state authorized medical marijuana programs is being used in the way it has been sanctioned. Just 31 percent of Americans think marijuana purchased under such programs is being used to alleviate suffering from serious medical illnesses. More than half - 52 percent - think it is being used for other reasons, including four in 10 of those who think marijuana should be legal in general.

Read the complete poll (PDF)
Search the CBS News poll database
CBSNews.com special report: Marijuana Nation


Add a Comment See all 118 Comments
by joey8686 December 31, 2011 5:58 PM EST
If anything marijuana should be legalized and alcohol should be made illegal. I believe that hard core drugs like cocain, meth, heroin, etc, should all stay illegal, but marijuana is not a "hard core" drug. Alcohol is much worse than marijuana and we have legalized it. Here's some facts to support my statement.

There are hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths each year, yet there has never been a marijuana overdose death in history.

-Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver cirrhosis, various cancers, unintentional injuries, and violence.

-Almost half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.
(20 percent of alcohol-related traffic deaths involve blood alcohol concentration levels below .10 percent.)

-In 1991, a subway motorman was drinking just before his shift and derailed a train carrying hundreds of passengers, kill five and injuring more than two hundred.

-If an alcoholic suddenly withdraws from alcohol, he or she may suffer delirium tremens. D.T.s sometimes end in death.

-Many people who apparently die from overdoses of sleeping pills (barbiturates), actually die from a combination of alcohol and the medication.

-One quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol related.

-Between 48 and 64 percent of people who die in fires have blood alcohol levels indicating intoxication.

-Alcohol is abused by some 14 million Americans and contributes to the deaths of 100,000 each year.

-According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 65 percent of fatal drunk-driving deaths involve drivers whose blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .15 or higher.

-The risk of hemorrhagic stroke is three times higher among heavy drinkers.

-Very large amounts of alcohol (such as a quart if drunk in five to thirty minutes) may occasionally cause death by anesthetizing the brain center that controls breathing.

-About 20 percent of those people who commit suicide are alcohol abusers, according to the National Mental Health Association.

-About 20 percent of suicide victims are alcoholics.

-Alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship. Cannabis reduces likelihood of violence during intoxication... Source: Hoaken, Peter N.S., Sherry H. Stewart. Journal of Addictive Behaviors. 28, pages 1533-1554. Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of human aggressive behavior. Dept. of Psychology, University of Western Ontario. Dept. of of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University.

There are some physical health risks, particularly the possibility of damage to the airways in cannabis smokers. Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for 'recreational' purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug. Source: Iversen, Leslie. Current Opinion in Pharmacology. Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2005, Pages 69-72. Long-term effects of exposure to cannabis. University of Oxford, Department of Pharmacology.

The latest and most comprehensive research on marijuana has concluded that it does not contribute to the development of lung cancer. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR200605...

There has never been a documented case of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker, and recent studies find that marijuana use is not associated with any type of cancer. The same cannot be said for alcohol, which has been found to contribute to a variety of long-term negative health effects, including cancers and cirrhosis of the liver.
Reply to this comment
by douxs December 15, 2011 11:12 PM EST
1 joint equals 1 pack of cigarettes.
Reply to this comment
by medicalprof2 December 19, 2011 8:41 PM EST
It most certainly is not under normal circumstances. The only significantly damaging components of a joint happen to be the pesticides used in maintaining the plant. Truly pure cannibis is less than 10% as damaging as tobacco per unit. Any conservative with his/her head in his/her ass who tells you otherwise is misinformed as is just here to make money off the prison business. Which, by the way, even a conservative estimate puts the legalization and taxation of pot sales at a federal profit of nearly $200 billion a year. Also, you can get concentrated therapeutic CBD, which is the main medicinal component of cannibis, without the THX. Either way, it would be far less damaging to legalize pot than it was to let the tobacco lobbyists run congress during the 90s.
by joey8686 January 12, 2012 4:47 PM EST
There has never been a documented case of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker.
by magnumdr December 3, 2011 11:17 PM EST
Pot is a mind altering drug. Some people who use this drug might think that the pain has gone away but in reality it is all in their minds and they can hurt themselves even worse while on the pot!
Reply to this comment
by Herne42 December 1, 2011 5:01 PM EST
I'd like to remind everyone that this is just a CNN poll. The number of supporters for legalization (round 2) is actually much higher...no pun intended.
Oil/plastics/fuel,superior building materials,new medicines, jail space for violent offenders.
The reasons for legalization GREATLY outweigh any reason for prohibition.
Ending the federal prohibition of Marijuana could potentially lead to the creation of MILLIONS of jobs.
Those running programs on the war on drugs, are lairs and hypocrites.
Since 1936 we've been lied to. And all the while the U.S. Government has been growing fields, raping the American people and raking in billions for themselves. (I've personally talked to farmers that were paid to keep quiet.)
I want my fair share...that is all... we the people have every right to take back a piece of mother nature for our own profits.
P.S. for anyone who wants to cringe...read those trials from 1936.(pertaining to Marijuana prohibition)
(the ignorance and racism is shocking.)
Reply to this comment
by CalCannaLabs November 22, 2011 11:01 PM EST
We can no longer afford not to legalize and tax. Prohibition has failed for too long.
Reply to this comment
by thesummerhigh November 22, 2011 8:19 PM EST
By making medical marijuana legal in all states, citizens would be able to legally use marijuana, whether they pay for it from a dealer or get it from a dispensary. Medical Marijuana is actually effective and a completely understandable drug to use for many different medical situations. By making medical marijuana legal in all states, the people trying to attain the drug would need a medical reason to get it. There are many ways to get this card, and there are many people that could be helped if it was made legal in each state.
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by malcolmkyle November 22, 2011 5:13 AM EST
An appeal to all Prohibitionists:

Most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' So why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check IDs and pay taxes? Gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. If you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned Kool-Aid in Jonestown.

Even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. We have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. Practically everybody is now aware that Prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. So why do you wish to continue with it? Do you actually think you may have something to lose If we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies?

Maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. Possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. But what good will any of that do you once our society has followed Mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated AK-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks?

Kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem.

Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!
Reply to this comment
by watkinsjr2000 November 21, 2011 12:18 AM EST
I would have to agree with the majority of people in this poll. I don't think that marijuana should be legalized for recreational use, but there are certain situations where there is a legitimate medical use for the drug.

If someone is dying from cancer,for instance,& drugs currently on the market to control their nausea aren't working for them, an MD should have the ability to prescribe marijuana if they think it will alleviate that patients suffering. Physicians can already prescribe many more potent drugs than pot to patients if they so choose.The decision to exclude marijuana from being an RX available for a physician to prescribe if indicated is not one that's based on medical science.

But, as I stated earlier I strongly oppose legalizing pot for recreational use. It has a lot more harmful side effects than most people realize. This is not an innocuous drug.Using it greatly increases the risk of someone having a catastrophic cardiovascular event (such as a stroke or a heart attack). It can also raise a person's BP to dangerous levels & cause liver problems (along with quite a list of other bad things). And, smoking it does carry the same carcinogenic risks that cigarettes do.Legalizing the stuff would doubtlessly increase traffic fatalities due to more people driving stoned. It would also make pot easier for young kids to get.For these reasons(and others) I think it would be a serious mistake to make marijuana a legal recreational drug.
Reply to this comment
by dgmeansit November 21, 2011 6:24 AM EST
I hear and understand your concerns. However, as a user for 40 years now, I have to tell you that at age 55, I'm still very healthy. My parents and grandparents all had cancer. I'm still 100% cancer free. All of them had shown signs of cancer by the time they reached my age. I can't say with certain that it is because of my cannabis usage. But what I can say with certainty is that it has not done any serious harm to me. I enjoy the way I feel after using cannabis and believe with all my heart that if I'm going to have a vice, then better this than alcohol or heroin or cocaine or oxycontin or tobacco or etc... I've made a relatively safe choice and should not have to fear the law because of it!
by Bardenesis November 21, 2011 1:04 PM EST
Then I would also assume you'd want to see alcohol and nicotine criminalized for recreational use as well. Your logic is that dangerous drugs should be made illegal. Since alcohol can cause death not only from overdose, but also from addictive withdrawl, it is far more dangerous than marijuana and should be illegal under your argument. Nicotine has been shown to be as addictive as heroin and we know for a fact that it is toxic and carcinogenic. Again, this drug is more dangerous than marijuana. Under your argument, it should be made illegal. Do you agree?
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by Freepress1111 November 20, 2011 6:26 PM EST
The real issue here is not marijuana use. Just as occurred with Prohibition, the real issue is some people thinking that they have a 'right' to tell others how to live their lives. If those of you that have this 'right' think you can stop pot use and are willing to pay out the wazoo for interdiction and incarceration costs, go for it. I predict that your efforts will be just as successful as the Prohibitionists.
Reply to this comment
by dgmeansit November 20, 2011 4:10 PM EST
If marijuana was legal, it would be fantastic for our country. As it is, the people of our country are almost equally divided among those who think it should legal and those who do not. Nothing since the civil war has divided the people of this country so greatly. It is a fact that people that want it are getting it and using it now. If you want to know what the world would be like if it was legal, it would not be much different except for the vast numbers of people filling private prisons and jails would be reduced and many of those people could instead be working and living with their families; contributing to society. Marijuana is not dope and it is not a drug. It is an herb with very real medicinal properties. I think that most of you out there that don't think it should be legal can at least agree that the punishments doled out by the American Justice System far outweigh the harm that just allowing us to endulge ourselves could ever do.
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