72% of Brazilians are against legalizing marijuana, says survey

A Datafolha survey released this Saturday (23) revealed that 72% of Brazilians oppose the legalization of recreational marijuana use in the country. This new survey indicates a significant change compared to the 2018 results collected by the institute, when 66% of those interviewed preferred that the use of marijuana remained prohibited. The newest survey involved 2,016 participants over the age of 16, interviewed on September 12th and 13th in 139 municipalities, with a margin of error of two percentage points.

On the other hand, the survey showed that the legalization of the medical use of marijuana receives broad support from those interviewed, with 76% in favor, while 22% are against. There are also 1% of respondents who are indifferent and 2% who have no opinion (the sum of the percentages varies due to rounding).

Although only 1% of the population claims to be taking cannabis-based medicines and 2% have used it in the past, it is notable that 85% claim to have some knowledge on the subject. In this context, 67% of those interviewed support the authorization of the cultivation of cannabis for the production of medicines, which is prohibited by law.

Datafolha also questioned interviewees about the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana, considering that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) is currently evaluating the issue. According to the survey, 61% of those interviewed believe that the legislation should not be changed, maintaining the ban on consumption and possession without quantitative criteria. Only 36% of those interviewed support the change in legislation.

So far, the STF trial has five of the 11 ministers in favor of release, after being interrupted a month ago. The advance of the vote forced Congress to look for alternatives to preserve the validity of the current legislation.

The numbers also include ideological divisions among those interviewed. Of those who declared that they voted for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), 45% are in favor of decriminalizing possession, while only 23% of voters for Jair Bolsonaro (PL) support this measure. However, in both cases, the majority is against decriminalization, with 52% of Lula voters and 75% of Bolsonaro voters opposing the change in the law.