Poll: 70% of Americans Believe Smoking Cannabis is ‘Morally Acceptable’

A recent Gallup poll found 70 percent of Americans believe smoking cannabis is “morally acceptable” compared to 28 percent who believe it is “morally wrong,” and just 2 percent who had no opinion or said it’s “not a moral issue.”

Among the topics polled by Gallup, smoking cannabis ranked lower than only gambling (71 percent), sex out of wedlock between a man and woman (72 percent), divorce (77 percent), drinking alcohol (86 percent) and birth control (90 percent).

Among the topics found more morally unacceptable than smoking cannabis were stem cell research using human embryos (66 percent), having a baby out of wedlock (66 percent), gay or lesbian relations (66 percent), medical testing on animals (56 percent), the death penalty (54 percent), buying and wearing clothes made from animal fur (54 percent), physician-assisted suicide (51 percent), abortion (44 percent), sex between teenagers (38 percent), pornography (36 percent), animal cloning (34 percent), polygamy (20 percent), suicide (18 percent), cloning humans (12 percent), and extramarital affairs between men and women (9 percent).

Smoking was considered morally responsible by a vast majority – 83 percent – of self-described liberals, but by a slim margin – 51 percent – of self-identified conservatives. For all of their differences, eight of the issues, in addition to cannabis consumption, were deemed acceptable by majorities of both liberals and conservatives, including: birth control, divorce, sex between an unmarried man and woman, drinking alcohol, having a baby outside of marriage, medical testing on animals, and gambling.

An October 2019 Gallup poll found 66 percent of Americans support legalization. When the pollster first asked the cannabis question in 1969, support for the reforms were just 12 percent.