Community Attitudes to Cannabis Use in Western Australia

Abstract

This paper presents results of a telephone survey of 400 Western Australians regarding attitudes to laws relating to possession of cannabis for personal use. Over a third of respondents believed cannabis should be made as legal as alcohol. Support for decriminalization increased from 64.0% to 71.5% when possible penalties associated with decriminalization were described. When penalties were described, more women than men favored decriminalization but age, political affiliation, and city or country residency no longer predicted attitudes to decriminalization. Almost two-thirds of respondents believed that many people used cannabis without experiencing serious problems and that the court system was overburdened by minor cannabis offenses. Half the sample believed it would not be a bad thing for the community if people were legally able to grow cannabis for their personal use. Results suggest there is considerable community support for removing criminal penalties for simple cannabis offenses.