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More Americans & Brits Than Ever Before Want Cannabis Decriminalised

Author: Skrufff
Friday, September 7, 2001
Two new surveys published this week have discovered that 58% of British people and 34% of Americans now support cannabis legalisation. The American survey, carried out for USA Today, CNN and Gallup discovered that 34% favour legal marijuana, the highest level ever recorded amongst the American public. The increase marks a possible sea change in US public opinion, following three decades of roughly constant support at 25%. In Britain, cannabis is even more popular, with an astonishing 80% of people now regarding long-term tobacco use as more damaging to health than smoking weed.

The trend towards favouring decriminalisation looks set to continue in both countries, the Drug Policy Institute suggested, with younger people being far more eager to legalise.

'Poll results were stratified along age lines,' they said. 'This suggests that support for marijuana legalization will continue to grow with time. Opposition is strongest among the generation raised on "reefer madness" propaganda. 18- to 49-year-olds, who are more likely to have been exposed firsthand to marijuana and its effects, are less likely to fear a change in drug laws.'

<http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/DailyNews/08_28_01Poll.html>

<http://www.express.co.uk>

Jonty Adderley

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