Survey: Most Christian Religious Groups Support Cannabis Legalization

The majority of individuals who identify as religious support broad cannabis legalization, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Support for the reforms is much stronger, though, among the non-religious.

The poll found support for both medical and adult use by 60% of all adults, with 31% only supporting medical use, and 8% preferring cannabis to remain outlawed.

Among those who identify as religious, only White evangelicals did not support broad legalization, with 44% supporting the reforms, 43% supporting medical use only, and 14% wanting cannabis to remain prohibited.

Adult-use reforms were otherwise supported by 62% of White Protestants, non-evangelicals, 63% of Black Protestants, 58% of White Catholics, and 51% of Hispanic Catholics.

Broad legalization saw support from 76% of those identifying as non-religious, with 20% supporting only medical legalization and 4% opposed to any legalization. Eighty-eight percent of atheists supported adult-use legalization, along with 86% of agnostics, and 70% who identified their religious beliefs as “nothing in particular.”

Those who described themselves as “most religious” were least likely to support broad cannabis legalization, 39%, but 45% of the cohort supported legal medical cannabis use, with 14% fully opposed to any reforms. Sixty-four percent of those self-described as “moderately religious” supported adult-use reforms, while 29% of that population supported only medical use. More than three-out-of-four (76%) who described themselves as “least religious” supported broad legalization, while 20% of the cohort supported only medical cannabis use.