The new presidential administration in the United States under the leadership of Donald Trump has certainly made cannabis advocates and cannabis industry professionals a bit nervous. They have appointed an Attorney General who is outwardly opposed to marijuana, and have made some comments about not respecting states who have legalized cannabis. Now, a new poll shows that the majority of Americans want Trump to respect state cannabis laws.
We have seen this before, just about a year ago in fact, with the majority of Americans supporting marijuana legalization, but this may be even more important, considering the depth and the timeliness of this particular issue.
According to the Huffington Post:
Seventy-six percent of American adults want President Donald Trump to respect state marijuana laws, according to a new poll published Thursday from Survey USA, commissioned by the drug policy reform group Marijuana Majority.
Majorities of Republicans, Democrats, independents and respondents of every age group agreed that the feds should not interfere with state marijuana laws.
It’s the strongest support to date for such laws, three points higher than an April survey from Quinnipiac University asking a similar question.
The poll also found that more Americans support, rather than oppose, the consumption of marijuana by professional athletes (46 percent), journalists (50 percent) and gun owners (48 percent) if those individuals live in a state where it is legal for them to do so without punishment.
The poll was done via Survey USA, and was conducted between June 19-20 with 1,500 cellphone and landline respondents, thanks to Marijuana Majority. You can read the full results of the poll here.
As we know, in May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked Congress to undo federal protections for states that have legalized medical marijuana so he could prosecute medical marijuana providers. This wasn’t granted, but it certainly lays the ground for potential actions in the future.
It is essential that cannabis industry professionals, activists, policy makers, and consumers work together to hold the ground this movement has made so far, and to protect states rights in the cannabis sector. Groups like Marijuana Majority are great to get information from, and I would encourage you to read more about them and the great advocacy work they are doing.
