A new YouGov survey has found that within the UK a slim majority support cannabis legalisation.
The survey asked 2933 adults “to what extent would you support or oppose the legalisation of cannabis in the UK?”.
Of the options given of all the adults asked, 17% said they “strongly support” with a further 34% saying they would “tend to support”.
This is compared with 16% saying that they “tend to oppose” and 18% saying that they “strongly oppose”. Of those asked, 15% of people said that they “don’t know”.
Young people aged 18-24 were the most likely to strongly support cannabis legalisation in the UK.
Unsurprisingly, it was the eldest of those asked in the age brackets of 50 and above who did not support cannabis legalisation in the UK.
There is little difference in views between gender according to the survey.
London is the region of the UK that most strongly cannabis legalisation. The Mayor of the city, Sadiq Khan, launched a commission to examine cannabis legality in May 2022.
Conservative government supporters were also the least likely to support cannabis legalisation, which explains why the current government is pushing a hard line on drug policies.
The British government recently announced new laws on nitrous oxide and despite cannabis being available medicinally on the NHS, there appears little appetite from the government to examine recreational laws.
Elsewhere, many of the UK’s allies, such as the U.S. and Canada, have already legalised recreational cannabis.
In Europe, Germany is the latest nation to announce plans to legalise the drug, although this has been complicated by current laws within the European Union.
This issue is not something the UK would have to deal with since their exit from the European Union.
