The latest Gallup poll shows that for the first time Americans clearly favor legalizing marijuana.
The latest numbers put support at legalizing marijuana at 58 percent, Gallup is reporting. That's a huge reversal when Gallup began asking the question in 1969; only 12 percent were in favor then.
In the 1970s support grew to 28 percent, but it wasn't until 2011 that half those polled were in favor of legalization. A previous poll even showed that 38 percent of Americans admitted that they had tried marijuana.
NBC News notes that those in favor of legalizing tend to be young and liberal as well as independent.
Sixty-five percent of independents favor legalization, the same number as Democrats. Republicans still are opposed, with numbers only at 38 percent. The poll also asked for age and only those 65 and older skewed towards opposing legalization at 53 percent.
"Americans are increasingly recognizing that marijuana is less harmful than they've been led to believe," Mason Tvert, a spokesperson for Marijuana Policy Project, said. "I think it's time to regulate marijuana like alcohol and most Americans appear to agree."
image: Wikimedia Commons
