A poll commissioned by the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana has accidentally shown how wildly unpopular cannabis prohibition is in the United States.
Conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy, the poll asked 1,000 registered voters selected randomly from across the United States their opinion about the federal government’s cannabis policy.
Respondents were given four choices: Agree with the current federal policy, legalize medical cannabis only, decriminalize recreational cannabis and allow medical cannabis, or fully legalize both recreational and medicinal cannabis.
Although 49% of those polled supported full legalization, with only 16% in favor of keeping the current federal policy, SAM representatives touted the poll as a victory for prohibitionists, claiming that more than half of Americans support “alternatives” to cannabis legalization.
The poll’s results were much lower than other recent polling efforts conducted by Gallup, Pew and Quinnipiac, showing that more than half of the nation supports legalization, due in part to the fact that the SAM poll asked very specific questions while Gallup, Pew and Quinnipiac simply asked respondents whether they think marijuana should be legal.