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A majority of Minnesotans surveyed as part of a new MinnPost/Embold Research poll say they support the state legalizing intoxicating THC edibles and beverages derived from hemp — which happened in July — and said the state should legalize marijuana-derived edibles.
In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana use. Since then, 19 states and the District of Columbia have made marijuana legal for recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In Minnesota, medical marijuana has been legal since 2014, but efforts to make the substance legal for recreational use have failed to gain traction. But this year, a controversial piece of legislation made edibles derived from hemp — not marijuana — legal in the state for adult recreational use.
The law, which went into effect July 1, allows for the purchase of food and beverages with up to 5 milligrams of THC per serving while placing a limit of 50 milligrams per package. It came as a surprise to many after its passage, with some elected officials admitting they weren’t aware of the scope of the bill when it passed. The law doesn’t include provisions for regulation, taxation or enforcement, prompting some local governments around the state to develop their own enforcement rules.
Still, the poll suggests the regulatory change making THC edibles and beverages legal in Minnesota is popular with Minnesotans: 60% of the poll’s respondents said they believe Minnesota should allow the sale of THC edibles and beverages made from both hemp and marijuana. Another 7% of those polled say the new law allowing hemp-derived products works for them but don’t support the legalization of products made from marijuana. Crosstabs can be found here.
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Note: The modeled margin of error is +/-2.6 percentage points.
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About a fifth, or 21%, of the 1,585 voters across Minnesota polled between Oct. 10 and Oct. 14 do not support the legalization of any products containing the intoxicating compounds found in hemp and marijuana plants, and 12% were unsure.
The results for the question were fairly similar across genders, ethnicities and education levels, with approval ratings for the legalization of hemp and marijuana-derived edibles hovering around 60%, while around 20% opposed the legalization of either. The starkest differences were found in age and party identity.
Support for legalization of both hemp and marijuana-derived edibles dwindled as respondents got older, with respondents between 18 and 34 and 35 to 49 being strongly in favor at 71%, while support among those over 65 fell to just under half at 49%. Approval also dropped among Republican voters, with just 43% favoring legalization compared to 76% of Democrats and 64% of independents.
While all regions of the state saw a majority of residents supportive of hemp and marijuana-derived edibles, the level of support varied by region. Respondents in urban areas were most supportive, at 73%, compared to rural and suburban voters at 54% and 53%, respectively.
Methodology note
The poll was conducted from Oct. 10 to Oct. 14, and respondents included 1,585 likely general election voters. The poll was conducted by Embold Research, the nonpartisan arm of Change Research. The pollsters recruit respondents via targeted ads on websites and social media platforms. Change Research has a B- pollster rating from FiveThirtyEight.
Embold Research uses a “modeled” margin of error, which it says accounts for the effects of weighting the poll (or making adjustments to better reflect the state’s demographics). The results were weighted on age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, and 2020 presidential vote.
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It would be interesting to hear what reason(s) those opposed to hemp or marijuana plant based THC products have for their position.
What percentage of those opposed are also opposed to alcoholic beverages and cigarettes being legal? Alcohol and cigarettes are proven killers and destroyers of families, with tons of data to support the harm they do.
George
There are reason to be concerned about alcohol and tobacco. They are addictive and many died of cancer from smoking and the largest spike in deaths from alcohol overdose and it’s diseases of the liver and pancreas are occurring now. But everyone knows about that or should. Did you know of the long term mental health consequences of cannabis? Psychosis, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, vehicular accidents, addiction have been documented. Adolescents are a prime target for these harms. Think of your family before you unleash cannabis legally, freely and without education.
All I see is the “R” folks again denying people their basic human rights and free will, with some made up shim-sham unintelligible fact-less 17th century reasoning. What next, deny women medical attention because they are pregnant, oh, sorry they already want to do that.
Presenting Polls on what people believe about the subject doesn’t solve the problem. You will always find Republicans against the public good. They believe people will come to work stoned and perform badly as employees. It is a good assumption. People who go to work drunk or keep alcohol in their desks to take “the edge” off work. The whole aussumption for the prohibition of cannabis can’t be answered in a simple poll. Poll results do not present the deeper questions.
The law is and was a racist attack on people of color. It has very little to do with its intoxicating effects. If based on a poll of levels of intoxication, alcohol would be banned. People do drink to relieve pain, both physical and mental. The institution of medical treatment for various issues of pain relief is limited and very expensive. The pharmaceutical companies believe they have the pills to combat pain and anything different is bad for business. Those pills have destroyed lives. To legally research and create a pill that is not addictive or dangerous to your health is one of the best reasons to legalize cannabis. It is not because cannabis is a dangerous substance.
Seems to me the popularity of pot and legalization support has been “known” for decades. This is just confirmation of decades of previous surveys isn’t it? So the real question is how and why did sooooo many people end up in prison, killed by police, and otherwise persecuted in a democracy where public sentiment like this should have decriminalized and/or legalized pot decades ago?
Science and widespread experience have shown marijuana has no significant harms. Those who shout about serious harms are lying. Polls show 68 percent of all Americans want to end the monstrously destructive, insane war on marijuana consumers. – 75 percent say leave it up to the states. More than 90 percent approve of medical marijuana. Now, even a majority of Republicans want to end this sick, witch hunt. – So why do we still have it?
Because police and prosecutors build their careers and empires on the fraudulent marijuana prohibition. Because industries like alcohol and pharmaceuticals don’t want the competition. Because other interests like the bogus “treatment” quacks, the drug testing industry and the prison industries depend on it for their life’s blood. Because many banks and shaky corporations couldn’t exist without the laundered money. Because it’s a Republican tool weaponized by Richard Nixon to attack and oppress Blacks and ’hippies.’ — But we’re still winning. 8^)
How did a bill get passed with so many of our elected officials not aware of the scope of the bill that didn’t include provisions for regulation, taxation or enforcement.
We now have local governments scrambling to develop their own rules including the temporary ban of the sale of these products.
I’m assuming everyone who supports legalization are fine with the fact there are no rules or test methods for determining the level of intoxication while driving impaired.
As a state , we can’t even get weed right. Can we expect them to get anything else right ?
Marijuana is not alcohol. The preponderance of the research shows marijuana consumption is not a significant cause of auto accidents. — In 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), found that while drunken driving dramatically increased the risk of getting into an accident, there was no evidence that using marijuana heightened that risk.