The support for marijuana legalisation in Australia more than doubles over the last six years
A new study shows that the popularity in Australia for the legalisation of cannabis has risen between 21 and 42 per cent in only 12 years.
According to a recent research paper “Changes in and correlations in Australian public attitudes towards the use of illicit drugs,” (source) released within The Drug and Alcohol Review, attitudes toward cannabis have significantly changed in Australia.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey (or NDSHS) is a national cross-sectional study of the use of alcohol and drugs in Australians aged 14 and over. It does not include people who are in nursing homes, hospitals and those who have no fixed address, or who are within the military or prison and people who don’t have a basic understanding of English. It is conducted every three years. typically takes about 20,000 participants in a random sampling that is spread across fifteen different areas.
The support for cannabis is skewed towards male researchers also discovered that those who were younger, not married and those with higher education had a higher likelihood of believing that cannabis should be legalized.
The public’s support for the legalization of cannabis was greater than that of other drugs with ecstasy registering at 9.5 per cent, and cocaine at 8.1 per cent.
Ecstasy support increased by 34 per cent in the period between 2013-2019, whereas cocaine support grew by 33 per cent.
The methamphetamines and heroin were not seen to have any improvement in their approval ratings according to the report, which ties that to that people believe they are more dangerous than ecstasy, cannabis, and cocaine.
Meanings and Interpretations
The most important results of the study come as no surprise. Australia has been steadily moving forward in the field of medical reform over the last few years. This, in itself, has always influenced the discussion across every legalizing country and in every jurisdiction so far. Check out North America as well as Europe up to 2013.
TWill Australia Legalise Cannabis? The debate & reform
For the first time ever in the survey’s time, the survey has found that more Australians favour the legalisation of cannabis (41 per cent) than opposed to it (37 per cent). This is nearly more than double the support for the legalisation of cannabis in 2007 (21 per cent).
This is significant because while there has been overwhelming community support for removing criminal penalties for cannabis possession (sometimes referred to as “decriminalisation, this has not been the case with legalisation.
In the survey of 2019 that was conducted 2019, fewer respondents believed that possessing cannabis ought to constitute a crime, as compared to the previous survey (down from 26 percent to 22%). In addition, less people were in favor of a rise in penalties for the supply or sale of marijuana (down from 50 percent to 44 percent). The majority of people (54 percent) believed that it should result in a caution, warning or none.
James King
James is an experienced writer and legal cannabis advocate in Australia. He answers all the questions about business, legalisation and medicinal cannabis.
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