In a national poll of police officers conducted on a wide variety of topics, less than one third of those surveyed said marijuana should remain illegal.
According to the Behind the Badge survey of nearly 8,000 police officers conducted by the National Police Research Platform (NPRP), 68% of police support legalizing medical marijuana.
While 32 percent of police surveyed supported full legalization of marijuana for adults, the number is still lower than the national average of 49% support among the general public.
According to the Pew Research Center, who published the poll results Wednesday:
As more jurisdictions move to decriminalize or legalize the private use of marijuana by adults, large majorities of the police and the public favor easing restrictions on the drug. However, a larger share of the public than police favor legalization of marijuana for personal and medical use (49% vs. 32%).
Overall, about seven-in-ten officers support allowing medical use of marijuana (37%) or favor the legalization of the drug for both personal and medical use (32%). The public is more favorably inclined than police toward relaxing marijuana laws; more than eight-in-ten Americans support either legalizing marijuana (49%) or allowing only medical use of the drug (35%).
The surveys found little support among the public for outlawing marijuana use under any circumstances (15%). However, police are twice as likely as all adults to favor an outright ban on the drug (30%).
As with younger adults generally, officers younger than 35 are more likely than those ages 50 to 60 to favor permitting personal and medical use of marijuana (37% vs. 27%). Among the public, a majority of adults (63%) under the age of 45 favor legalization.
The poll of 7,917 law enforcement officers from 54 agencies across the United States was conducted between May 19 and Aug. 14, 2016.
Source: Pew Research Center
Tags: Behind the Badge, Law Enforcement, marijuana legalization, marijuana prohibition, medical marijuana, National Police Research Platform, Pew Research Center, poll, polling, polls