Washington, DC: Younger voters overwhelmingly agree that marijuana is less damaging to society than is alcohol, according to the findings of a Rare.us/Gravis Marketing poll released last week.
Among those voters between 18 and 40 years of age, 47 percent ranked alcohol as the most harmful substance to society, well ahead of both tobacco (27 percent) and cannabis (13 percent). (Thirteen percent of respondents were undecided.) A majority of respondents of all ages, ethnic groups, and political affiliations agreed that marijuana is the least harmful of the three substances.
The results resemble those of a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released in March which reported that most Americans believe tobacco to be most harmful to health (49 percent), followed by alcohol (24 percent), sugar (15 percent), and marijuana (8 percent).
Under federal law, marijuana is classified as a schedule I controlled substance, meaning that its alleged harms are equal to those of heroin. Both tobacco and alcohol are unscheduled under federal law.
According to a study published in 2004 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the leading causes of death in the United States were tobacco (435,000 deaths; 18.1 percent of total US deaths), poor diet and physical inactivity (365,000 deaths; 15.2 percent), and alcohol consumption (85,000 deaths; 3.5 percent).
For more information, please contact Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.