Pew Poll: For The First Time In 40 Years Majority Of Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana

It’s been trending this way for years, and will likely continue given that support for legalizing marijuana is most intense among the younger generations:

The survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 13-17 among 1,501 adults, finds that young people are the most supportive of marijuana legalization. Fully 65% of Millennials –born since 1980 and now between 18 and 32 – favor legalizing the use of marijuana, up from just 36% in 2008. Yet there also has been a striking change in long-term attitudes among older generations, particularly Baby Boomers.

Half (50%) of Boomers now favor legalizing marijuana, among the highest percentages ever. In 1978, 47% of Boomers favored legalizing marijuana, but support plummeted during the 1980s, reaching a low of 17% in 1990. Since 1994, however, the percentage of Boomers favoring marijuana legalization has doubled, from 24% to 50%.

Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, came of age in the 1990s when there was widespread opposition to legalizing marijuana. Support for marijuana legalization among Gen X also has risen dramatically – from just 28% in 1994 to 42% a decade later and 54% currently.

The Silent Generation continues to be less supportive of marijuana legalization than younger age cohorts. But the percentage of Silents who favor legalization has nearly doubled –from 17% to 32% – since 2002.

I would like to believe that we’re entering a brave new era of libertarian thinking, where individuals are allowed greater freedom to make their own lifestyle choices. But the American public is notoriously schizophrenic on these sort of issues.

Even as support for legalizing marijuana grows, support for government policies cracking down on tobacco use, fast food, sugary drinks, etc. is growing as well.