As Kansas lawmakers delay consideration of medical marijuana legislation, a new poll has found that a strong bipartisan majority of residents favor both medical and adult-use cannabis legalization—and many say they’re more willing to support political candidates who back reform.
The Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State University that was released on Monday showed 73 percent support for medical marijuana legalization and 61 percent support for more broadly allowing recreational cannabis.
Notably, when asked their opinion on legalizing marijuana for adult-use with the intent of taxing cannabis products to generate revenue, support increased to 65 percent.
That includes 79 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans. In fact, a majority of respondents across every demographic surveyed—such as age, education and income level—said they favor the policy change.
More Kansans back legalizing marijuana to raise revenue than support increasing taxes on cigarettes and cigars (57.3 percent) or increasing taxes on alcohol (49.7 percent) to do so.
There was even greater consensus around medical marijuana legalization, with 85 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents and 64 percent of Republicans in favor of the reform.
The poll also included timely findings ahead of next month’s election. About 60 percent of respondents said they be “highly” or “somewhat likely” to vote for a political candidate who has supported legalizing cannabis for medical purposes.
That question also elicited bipartisan responses. Democrats were again most likely to say they’re inclined to back pro-medical cannabis candidates, at 74 percent. That sentiment was shared by a majority of independents (59 percent) and Republicans (51 percent).
The survey—which involved interviews with 645 Kansans from September 26-October 16—was released on the same day that the legislature’s Special Committee on Medical Marijuana met for a second hearing as part of their consideration of possible pathways for medical cannabis reform, taking testimony from supporters and opponents on the issue.
While a motion carried to compile a report on the information members received during the last two hearings and provide that to the legislature for the next session, a separate proposal that would’ve also broadly urged action on medical cannabis legislation failed.
Lawmakers have made several previous attempts to legalize medical marijuana without success, however. The House did pass a medical cannabis bill in 2021, but it stalled out in the Senate. And after numerous hearings on the issue, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill in March.
An effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor fell short in April.
That measure was filed about a month after the House rejected a Democratic lawmaker’s amendment to a broader drug scheduling bill that would have removed marijuana entirely from the state’s controlled substances law, effectively legalizing it.
After the Senate committee shelved the limited medical marijuana bill, Gov. Laura Kelly (D) issued a statement urging the public to contact their representatives to demand that they take the legislation back up for action, but that did not happen before the end of the legislative session.
Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said late last year he was open to a discussion about a limited medical marijuana program. But in January, he appeared less open to the idea, calling medical legalization a “nonstarter” and suggesting the policy change could lead to a surge in “gang activity” and put kids at risk.
He also suggested voters didn’t understand medical marijuana. “I think what people see when they think of medical, they’re thinking of, you know, palliative care and things like that,” Masterson said.
Masterson, who also helped kill the House-passed medical marijuana bill in 2021, has downplayed popular support for broader adult-use cannabis legalization, suggesting voters don’t understand the policy change.
“If you look at that question, I think most people would answer yes, but they don’t know what they’re actually saying yes to,” the Senate president said.
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Another recent survey from the Midwest Newsroom and Emerson College Polling, meanwhile, found that 56 percent of Kansas voters support broadly legalizing cannabis for recreational use, and 72 percent are in favor of allowing access to medical marijuana.
In her 2023 State of the State address, the governor said that there’s a “commonsense way to improve health care here in Kansas—and that’s to finally legalize medical marijuana.”
The governor also said in 2021 that she would be “enlisting the efforts of the people of Kansas who really want this” to pressure their lawmakers to get the reform enacted.
Also in 2022, then-House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer (D) and Assistant Minority Leader Jason Probst (D) said they wanted to let voters decide on legalizing medical and adult-use marijuana in the state.
The governor, for her part, previously pushed a separate proposal that would legalize medical cannabis and use the resulting revenue to support Medicaid expansion, with Rep. Brandon Woodard (D) filing the measure on the governor’s behalf.
Following President Joe Biden’s announcement in 2022 on pardoning people who’ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses and imploring governors to follow suit, Kelly said that her administration is “focused on legalizing medical marijuana so that Kansans with severe illnesses no longer have to suffer.
Kelly added that they will “continue to consider all clemency and pardon requests based on a complete and thorough review of the individual cases.”
The governor also said in 2020 that while she wouldn’t personally advocate for adult-use legalization, she wouldn’t rule out signing the reform into law if a reform bill arrived on her desk.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
As Kansas lawmakers delay consideration of medical marijuana legislation, a new poll has found that a strong bipartisan majority of residents favor both medical and adult-use cannabis legalization—and many say they’re more willing to support political candidates who back reform. The Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State University that was released on Monday showed Read More