A poll released earlier this month showed that 85% of all
voters agree that adults should be allowed to use cannabis for medicinal
purposes if a physician prescribes it. This means that 9 out of every 10
Americans believe that medical marijuana should be legal; the highest level of
public support ever reported. Although respondents were divided on whether they
believed that most patients truly needed medical marijuana.
Currently, 18 states and Washington D.C. have enacted laws
that authorize medical marijuana and numerous more states have laws pending in
state legislatures. Some of these states include Illinois, New Hampshire, and
New York.
Yet despite the overwhelming public support for medical
marijuana law reform, there is still little federal support. House Bill 689,
the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act currently only has less
than 4% of the entire U.S. House of Representatives behind it. A bi-partisan
group of US representatives have also introduced legislation known as the
Respect State Marijuana Laws Act (House Bill 1523), but it is unknown whether
this will get passed in the near future.
While the majority of Americans have warmed to the idea of
legalizing medical marijuana, less than half the population are in support of
broader legalization for recreational use. In fact, only 46% of voters favored
broader legalization of marijuana. At the present time, only 2 states have
voted to legalize recreational marijuana—Colorado and Washington.
