Happy 4/20: Support For Weed Legalization Reaches All-Time High

A participant practices rolling a joint at the Cannabis Carnivalus 4/20 event in Seattle, Washington, April 20, 2014. REUTERS

With state legalization sweeping the nation, it may come as no surprise that support for federal legalization has reached an all-time high (no pun intended). To coincide with the national marijuana holiday colloquially known as 4/20, CBS released new poll results Thursday that found a record 61 percent of Americans believe marijuana use should be legal.

The poll results saw a five-point bump from last year’s poll results in addition to being the highest figure recorded in nearly four decades. According to CBS, the poll has seen a steady annual increase in support for legalization since as far back as 1979, during which year the figure was just 27 percent. In addition to these results, 88 percent of those polled felt medical marijuana use should be legal.

In heartening news for supporters of marijuana’s legalization, 71 percent of Americans reportedly oppose the federal government’s efforts to halt sales of the drug in states where it’s already legal, according to the poll. This figure is reportedly independent of political affiliation, as opposition to federal meddling comes from most Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

READ: Legal Marijuana 2017: Increasing Weed Enforcement Could Be Dangerous, Governors Tell Trump Administration

The results found that most Americans think weed is safer than alcohol. “And most Americans also think marijuana is less dangerous than most other drugs,” CBS reports, “particularly those who say they have tried it.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the poll found that Americans under age 65 support weed legalization, while those over age 65 are the most likely to stand in opposition. According to CBS, “women are now as much in favor of legal marijuana as men are; in previous years they were less so.”

According to New Frontier, a market analytics company that monitors the cannabis industry, sales of the drug grew to $6.6 billion in 2016. New Frontier forecasted that the legal market could grow to become a $24.1 billion sales industry by 2025.