Canadian Attitudes Towards Decriminalizing Marijuana Use: What Surveys Show

Daniel Savas

Canadian public opinion on decriminalizing marijuana use has shifted quite dramatically over the past decade.¹ Canadians have moved from a majority opposing decriminalization to a majority supporting it. And when pushed to consider its use for health purposes, the Canadian population opens the decriminalization door even further, leaving only a very small minority of people staunchly opposed to taking it off the list of criminal offenses.

Views on the decriminalization of marijuana use are not shared consistently across all groups in Canadian society, however. In particular, generational and gender gaps shape public opinion on this issue. The 1960s generation, the baby boomers, appear to be driving an increasingly liberal view of marijuana use—an attitude that is being passed on to their children.

There is currently no real consensus among Canadians about whether or not marijuana use should be a criminal offense. A slim majority (51 percent) favours decriminalization, while fully 45 percent believe marijuana use should remain illegal. Another 4 percent do not have an opinion one way or the other.

The absence of a nation--wide consensus hides some real differences across different population groups, however. Indeed, the “truth” about views on the decriminalization of marijuana is that, unlike with many other public policy issues, there are specific and strong predictors that have not changed very much over the past decade. Age, gender, education, and region all drive opinions on whether a given individual is more or less apt to support decriminalization.

Overall, younger and middle--aged Canadians—those under age 55—hold more liberal views on marijuana use decriminalization than do those older than 55. Similarly, while a solid majority of Canadian men think marijuana use “should be legal,” fewer women share this view.

Education is also a good predictor of opinions on this issue. Canadians with more formal education tend to be more open to decriminalization than those who have not completed high school. Regionally, British Columbians are by far and away the stand--outs in an otherwise cautious Canadian population. Fully 63 percent of people on the West Coast support decriminalization, compared to about half of Ontarians and Quebeckers, a still smaller percentage of the residents of the Prairie provinces, and a mere 37 percent of Atlantic Canadians.

Public opinion in Canada on the decriminalization debate underwent a dramatic reversal over the past decade. Views on marijuana use were notably more conservative in the mid--1980s but have since experienced a real and significant liberal shift. Importantly, however, the long term trend more resembles a seesaw than a straight line, suggesting that views are anything but stable. Also notable is that shifts in opinion have occurred consistently across most population groups, implying that, on this particular issue, no one Canadian group is immune to broader social trends and ideologies.

The generation gap shifts in unison with Canadian public opinion as a whole. However, while there continued to be definite differences between young and old across the full period from 1984 to 1997, there has been an overall “softening” of views on decriminalization across all age groups, a fact which hints quite strongly that age may be the key variable driving public opinion on the decriminalization of marijuana use. We see this in two ways.

First, the proportion of young Canadians who support decriminalization has risen consistently since 1984, from 40 to 56 percent, and without the “conservative” dip in 1987 experienced by all other age groups. In dramatic contrast, both middle--aged and older Canadians were caught up in the shift towards more conservative views on this issue in the mid--1980s.

Second and just as importantly, despite the consistently wide gap in support levels for decriminalization between the over-- and under--55 age groups, the overall trend is one of growing support at all age levels. Even among Canadians over age 55, there has been a gradual shift towards support for decriminalization; support levels in this age group have moved from 35 to 41 percent over the past 13 years, despite being as low as 29 percent in 1987.

Regionally, even in liberal British Columbia, there was a significant dip in public support for decriminalization in the mid--1980s, from 55 percent in 1984 to 40 percent three years later, and then a dramatic rebound to 63 percent support today. A similar situation occurred in Ontario and on the Prairies. Only in Quebec and Atlantic provinces have opinions remained constant over the past decade and a half.

The gender gap, still present in 1997, seems to be a permanent fixture in the public's opinion on decriminalizing marijuana use. Simply put, men remain stronger supporters of decriminalization than women. The 15--point gap separating men and women in 1997 is mirrored in findings for both 1984 and 1987.

Canadians initially opposed to decriminalizing marijuana use seem to change their tune quite dramatically when it is a question of using it for health purposes. This suggests that opposition to decriminalization is not single--minded, and opens up doors to restricted use of the now--banned substance under controlled circumstances. Overall, 71 percent of Canadians initially opposed to decriminalization say that marijuana use should not be a criminal offense when it is used for health purposes. One--quarter (27%) remain staunchly against decriminalization even under these conditions.

When we combine views on outright decriminalization and decriminalization for health related reasons, we find that only about 1 in 10 Canadians is staunchly against seeing marijuana use removed from the list of criminal offenses.

One has to put attitudes about marijuana use within the context of perceptions of criminality, and what constitutes a crime. Ultimately, the generally liberal views on marijuana use suggest that Canadians perceive different “layers” of crime—smoking a joint may not be, for most people, as serious a drug issue as snorting cocaine or shooting up heroin.

The fact that marijuana use for health purposes “softens” opposition to decriminalization is indicative of a growing societal openness to alternative ways of doing things. Its use as a health “remedy” flies in the face of treating its use as a criminal offense; if it is good for you, why should someone who uses it be a criminal?

The shifts in opinion we have found overall, and the differences in views on marijuana depending upon what its used for, strongly suggests the issue is far from black and white for most people. As attitudes grow more liberal, there is a clear need and opportunity to focus the debates, educate the public, and move towards some enlightened discussion of the appropriate measures to apply to the drug issue.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.