This NORML report appears here with permission.

The percentage of Americans who believe “marijuana use should be legal” remains at record levels reported in the last two annual nationwide polls conducted by Gallup.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents support legalization — the same level of support Gallup reported in 2021 and 2020. A majority of almost all subgroups were in favor of legalization.

“An overwhelming majority of Americans have consistently opposed our failed marijuana ban for nearly a decade; It goes against common sense and the concept of sound public policy that our elected officials at the federal level have yet to take meaningful action,” he said Eric Altieri, Managing Director of NORML. “Voters of almost every age and in virtually every region of the country agree that marijuana should be legal. It is high time that Congress finally took action to reform our nation’s laws to reflect the will of the people and relegate our disastrous prohibition policies to the dustbin of history.”

When Gallup began addressing the issue in 1969, only 12 percent of Americans supported legalizing marijuana. When California voters became the nation’s first state to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in 1996, 25 percent of Americans said marijuana should be legal for people 21 and older. Since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize adult-use marijuana in 2012, public support for legalization has increased by about 20 percentage points statewide. Since 2013, legalization has enjoyed majority support among Americans.

Consistent with previous polls, Gallup reported that most Democrats (81 percent) and political independents (70 percent) support legalizing marijuana. In contrast, Republicans are almost evenly split on this issue (51 percent for). The only subgroups not to cross the 50 percent threshold were self-proclaimed conservatives (49 percent) and individuals…