Nearly All U.S. Voters Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana, Poll Reveals

A staggering 89 percent of U.S. voters, regardless of political affiliation, support legalizing medical marijuana.

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Marijuana has a come a long, long way since the fabricated 1930s-era paranoia of Reefer Madness. In 2016, ganja fans lucky enough to reside in states like Colorado and Washington can simply walk into the nearest recreational shop and score the strain of their choice. Others, such as recent recruits Pennsylvania, are restricted to marijuana of the purely medical variety. But just how much has support for the legalization of marijuana, specifically medical, grown in the years since the now-hilarious propaganda of Reefer Madness?

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According to a new national poll from Quinnipiac University, nearly every single voter in the United States supports the legalization of medical marijuana. The poll, released Monday, shows that a mountainous 89 percent of U.S. voters support the adoption of doctor-prescribed weed. "The fact that a majority of American voters favors legalizing marijuana in general shows how attitudes about the drug have changed," Tim Malloy, assistant director of Quinnipiac's polling services, said in a press release.

The poll also breaks down the difference in medical marijuana support by political affiliation, showing that the majority of both Democrats and Republicans support using weed for medicinal purposes. 81 percent of Republicans are very here for it, while 94 percent of Democrats say they support legal medical use. Maybe medical marijuana is the unifying, bipartisan issue American politics so desperately needs?

For general legalization, like that found in the aforementioned epicenters of awesomeness in Colorado and Washington, support among U.S. voters currently stands at 54 percent. When divided for political affiliation, Democrats noticeably take the proverbial cake with 65 percent supporting outright legalization, while Republicans put in a good effort at 36 percent.

"This is just the latest in a string of recent polls clearly showing that most voters support legalizing marijuana and that a huge supermajority backs medical cannabis," Tom Angell, chairman of the advocacy group Marijuana Majority, told Complex of the latest poll's findings. "These results and similar ones before them are exactly why, for the first time in history, every presidential candidate in the race has voiced support for letting states set their own marijuana laws without federal interference."

But there's still much to be done. As legalization advocates hope for good news in the Drug Enforcement Administration's announcement later this month regarding a rescheduling of marijuana, the conflict between policy and law, both state and federal, is causing confusion (and even arrest) for some marijuana users.

"This is a mainstream issue that politicians are finally starting to embrace instead of run away from, and that's only going to intensify after voters more than double the number of states with legal marijuana at the ballot box this November," Angell told Complex.

In the meantime, the time is ripe to take a surely worth it road trip to hit these 5 weed tourist destinations.

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