Studies That Show How Messed Up Public Opinion Of Cannabis Really Is

Newspaper headlines recently pointed out that the support for marijuana legalization has never been higher. As of now, 58 percent of all Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized. To give you an idea of what a big change that is, it's worth saying that in 1969, 84 percent of Americans believed marijuana should stay illegal.

Of course, us potheads know that the reason why cannabis even became illegal had to do with greed, racism, and propaganda. Even with the public becoming increasingly aware of the falsehoods they've been fed over the years, it's clear that propaganda has seriously warped our views over the past eight decades or so.

The 2015 Pew Marijuana Poll

In 2015, a poll about public perception of marijuana usage showed that approximately 44 percent of people wanted marijuana to be illegal - but that isn't what's so alarming. That's to be expected, right?

Despite having a huge swath of evidence that marijuana is not dangerous to people, the number one and two reasons why people wanted to vote against legalization were that they believed it to be "addictive and dangerous."

But, that's not all that is disturbing about this poll. Rather, what's really alarming is that one generation, the Baby Boomers, were extremely supportive of marijuana legalization - until they had kids themselves.

The Pew study explained it this way:

"Baby Boomers, who were the most supportive generation in the 1970s before becoming opponents during the “Just Say No” 1980s, are now about as likely to favor (50%) as oppose (47%) legalization."

So, this means that generation was okay with partying it up...as long as their kids didn't do the same thing they did.

Alcohol Versus Marijuana

This study shows that marijuana is illegal and considered to be dangerous - despite alcohol being legal, more affordable, and generally a lot more dangerous.

120 million people drink alcohol, many of whom get behind the wheel and drive while drunk. There are a huge number of alcohol-related deaths, fights, and addictions. Currently, only a handful of cases have happened where cannabis consumption has killed.

Hypocritical much?

Meanwhile, it's worth pointing out that the ones that are emphasizing the dangers of marijuana include pharmaceutical companies and the alcohol industry as a whole.

Americans Still Think Cannabis Users Are All Hippies

If you look on TV, you'll notice that most potheads are depicted as losers, slackers, or dirty hippies. This seems to be the most common perception of what marijuana users look like - but this is actually really not the case at all.

According to this study, the typical marijuana user is more educated, has a healthier social life, and is more likely to be a college graduate. Moreover, a decent amount of pot smokers are Republican - so it's not exactly like the hippie trope is 100 percent true, either.