{"id":86930,"date":"2026-09-15T10:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T03:47:11","slug":"most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Americans Don\u2019t Think Marijuana Is Very Dangerous Or That It Leads To Use Of Other Drugs, New Poll Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-17.jpg\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1500\"> <\/p>\n<p>Only about a third of Americans think marijuana is dangerous, and less than half still believe the \u201cgateway theory\u201d that using cannabis makes people significantly more likely to try more dangerous drugs, according to a new poll.<\/p>\n<p>The survey, released by Rasmussen Reports on Tuesday, asked U.S. adults how dangerous they think cannabis is.<\/p>\n<p>Just over one out of three indicated they think marijuana is either somewhat (24 percent) or very dangerous (13 percent).<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, a majority of respondents said cannabis is either not dangerous at all (27 percent) or not very dangerous (28 percent).<\/p>\n<p>When asked how likely they believe it is that \u201cmarijuana use leads to the use of more dangerous drugs,\u201d just 18 percent said it is very likely and 27 percent believe it is somewhat likely. Nineteen percent said it is not at all likely and 27 percent think it is not very likely, while 9 percent said they aren\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n<p>When broken down by party, Republicans are more likely to believe that marijuana is either somewhat or very dangerous (50 percent) than Democrats are (33 percent).<\/p>\n<p>GOP voters are also more likely to buy the gateway theory about marijuana being very or somewhat likely to be true (60 percent) than Democrats are (42 percent).<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rasmussenreports.com\/public_content\/lifestyle\/general_lifestyle\/september_2026\/only_37_think_marijuana_is_dangerous\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poll<\/a> involved interviews with 1,234 American adults between September 8-10 and has a margin of error of +\/- 3 percentage points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<br \/>\nMarijuana Moment is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/marijuanamoment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9128 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Learn more about our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/marijuanamoment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.<br \/>\n\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The results comport with other recent surveys showing that American attitudes and behaviors around cannabis are shifting.<\/p>\n<p>A Gallup poll released last month, for example, found that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/more-americans-are-smoking-marijuana-now-than-ever-before-as-cigarettes-hit-all-time-low-gallup-poll-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">record-high number of U.S. adults now smoke marijuana, while cigarette smoking is at an all-time low<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, an analysis of federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data published last year showed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/more-americans-now-use-marijuana-than-smoke-cigarettes-new-study-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">more Americans now use marijuana than smoke cigarettes<\/a>\u00a0amid shifting perceptions of harm of the two substances.<\/p>\n<p>A study released last month found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/cannabis-drinks-help-people-consume-less-alcohol-while-improving-sleep-and-mood-study-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">people who consume cannabis-infused THC beverages end up drinking less alcohol<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, a separate Gallup\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/majority-of-americans-still-back-marijuana-legalization-despite-big-drop-in-republican-support-under-trump-gallup-poll-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">poll found that a majority of Americans remain in favor of legalizing marijuana<\/a>\u00a0but that support saw a slight dip from 2024\u2014a trend that\u2019s been \u201cdriven by Republicans\u201d who are turning against the reform.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Most Americans Don\u2019t Think Marijuana Is Very Dangerous Or That It Leads To Use Of Other Drugs, New Poll Shows<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nRead More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Most Americans Don\u2019t Think Marijuana Is Very Dangerous Or That It Leads To Use Of Other Drugs, New Poll Shows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only about a third of Americans think marijuana is dangerous, and less than half still believe the \u201cgateway theory\u201d that using cannabis makes people significantly more likely to try more dangerous drugs, according to a new poll. The survey, released by Rasmussen Reports on Tuesday, asked U.S. adults how dangerous<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/most-americans-dont-think-marijuana-is-very-dangerous-or-that-it-leads-to-use-of-other-drugs-new-poll-shows\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":86931,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86932,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86930\/revisions\/86932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}