But now, along with many other anti-marijuana organizations, the Partnership is reluctantly admitting that it has failed to convince a majority of Americans that medical marijuana should stay illegal.
The group recently did an on-line survey of 1603 adults, 1,200 of whom are parents of children and young adults under the age of 20, and found 70% of the respondents favor legalizing medical marijuana, 52% favor marijuana decriminalization and 42% favor legalization for recreational use.
Those are stunning numbers. Just 20 years ago, far less than half of American adults supported legalization of medical marijuana, and hardly anyone except for those of us in the marijuana community supported full marijuana legalization.
This doesn’t mean parents approve of children using marijuana, although there are increasing numbers of children being officially certified as medical marijuana patients. Medical marijuana is seen as a safe and effective medicine for children with autism, ADHD, cancer, nerve disorders, and other serious illnesses
In fact, as you can read in an article here, an increasing number of parents of autistic children are asking if marijuana can help their children.
On the other hand, 85% of parents surveyed said marijuana use could have negative health consequences for young people. This coincides with brain research that examines how marijuana use interacts with physiological development in children and teenagers.
In an article you can read here, you see a very open-minded discussion from a marijuana grower, user, and advocate who candidly talks about his own youthful marijuana use, marijuana science, and the consequences of using marijuana before a person’s brain and body have reached adult capacity and development.
What’s ironic is that the Partnership and other anti-marijuana forces have long used scare tactics related to children and marijuana. They’ve falsely claimed that legalizing medical and recreational marijuana inevitably leads to more children and teenagers using marijuana. But that allegation hasn’t been born out by facts.
The Partnership’s report on its findings found these other interesting results:
- In Colorado and Washington State. Fully 90 percent of parents in those states, for instance, believe that “marijuana should be sold only through licensed growers & sellers and not in places like convenience stores, grocery stores or newsstands.”
- Similar proportions of parents say marijuana should be prohibited in public places where tobacco smoking is now banned (92 percent of Colorado parents, 96 percent of Washington State parents agree)
- A majority of parents surveyed said it should be illegal to provide marijuana to underage children at home (90 percent of Colorado parents, 91 percent of Washington State parents agree).
- Over 80 percent of parents (87 percent of Colorado parents) believe “marijuana advertising should still be banned.”
- More than 60 percent of Colorado and Washington State parents feel they are the most effective people to communicate marijuana information to children,, compared with 16 percent (in each state) saying schools are most effective source of marijuana information. Similarly, more than 60 percent of Colorado and Washington State parents consider doctors and medical professionals the best sources of advice for providing parents with information about marijuana prevention for their children – more than the Internet (48 percent of parents in Colorado, 47 percent in Washington). This data is somewhat troubling, given that most doctors and schools are woefully misinformed about marijuana. Many of them are still spreading Reefer Madness lies, and using police officers to “educate” children about marijuana.
Speaking of parenting and marijuana, some people believe marijuana growers are better parents. And you even see media reports about “marijuana moms” hosting marijuana medibles parties…
The bottom line is anti-marijuana forces have lost the public relations battle when it comes to America’s attitudes towards medical marijuana and recreational marijuana.
Now we wonder when politicians, bureaucrats, police, prosecutors and all the many others who profit from marijuana prohibition will end the drug war by respecting the fact that the majority of Americans support rolling back the war on marijuana, especially for medical use.
