By Americans are more likely today to view marijuana as harmful to society and to the individuals using it than they were two years ago, according to a Gallup poll published Tuesday.
In the latest survey — conducted July 1-21 — 54 percent of Americans said marijuana use either very (20 percent) or somewhat (34 percent) negatively affects society, while 41 percent said the effects are either very (6 percent) or somewhat (35 percent) positive.
That 13-point gap represents a stark change from 2022, when Americans were closely divided on whether the effects on society were negative (50 percent) or positive (49 percent).
Americans’ views about the effects of marijuana use on individual users have shifted as well.
In the new survey, a slim majority of U.S. adults said marijuana use either very negatively (19 percent) or somewhat negatively (32 percent) impacts most of its users, while 43 percent said the effects on most are either very positive (7 percent) or somewhat positive (36 percent).
In 2022, those results were roughly switched, with 53 percent saying marijuana had a very positive (9 percent) or somewhat positive (44 percent) effect on most users, while 45 percent said the effects on most individuals were very negative (15 percent) or somewhat negative (30 percent).
Certain demographics today still view marijuana use as having a mostly positive effect on individual users, but those demographics were less likely to view marijuana use as positive than they were in 2022.
In the July 2024 survey, 58 percent of those ages 18-34 said marijuana use positively affects most users, compared to 65 percent who said the same in 2022; among Democrats, 53 percent viewed the individual effects positively, compared to 62 percent in 2022; among those who seldom or never attend religious services, 52 percent viewed the effects on most users positively, compared to 65 percent who said the same in 2022.
Still, overall, Americans view marijuana as the least harmful of eight substances on the Gallup survey, with only 26 percent of Americans saying marijuana is “very harmful.” Alcohol notched the seventh slot, with 33 percent of Americans saying it is “very harmful.”
At the top of the list, cigarettes had the most respondents deem it “very harmful” (79 percent), followed by chewing tobacco (61 percent), electronic cigarettes or vaping (57 percent), cigars (45 percent), a pipe (44 percent), nicotine pouches (34 percent).
The latest survey comes as the Department of Justice has recently begun the process of reclassifying marijuana on a federal level as a less-dangerous drug. Marijuana is legal in 24 states, Gallup said.
The latest survey included 1,010 adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.