**Americans Growing More Optimistic About Illegal Drug Progress, But Support for Legalization Declines**
A recent Gallup report shows that Americans are becoming more optimistic about progress in tackling illegal drugs in the United States. However, many left-leaning media outlets and social media commentators have misrepresented this finding, claiming it reflects growing support for drug legalization. This is a false framing.
The Pew Research in question measured public sentiment, not policy preference. It indicates that more Americans believe a solution to the drug problem might eventually be found, but it does not mean they want drugs legalized.
### Declining Support for Drug Legalization
In reality, support for legalized marijuana—and by extension, the legalization of other drugs—is declining. The reason is simple: the promised benefits of legalization have largely failed to materialize.
Of the ten most commonly anticipated benefits cited by supporters of drug legalization, only one has been achieved. That achieved benefit is **personal freedom and liberty**—the idea that adults should be able to choose whether or not to use drugs. This goal has been realized in states where marijuana is legal by definition.
However, the remaining nine benefits have not appeared as expected, including:
– Majority public support
– Increased tax revenue
– Elimination of the black market
– Reduced prison overcrowding and criminal justice reform
– Reduced racial disparities in enforcement
– Job creation and economic growth
– Medical benefits
– Safer regulated products
– Reduction in opioid deaths
### Misconceptions About Public Support
The claim that drug legalization reflects majority public support is less a goal and more an explanation for why legalization measures have passed in many states. However, as noted, this support is now waning.
If the media were to overcome their left-leaning bias and report the full truth, people could better inform themselves—and support for legalization would likely decline even further.
### Unproven Medical Benefits
The medical benefits of marijuana legalization remain unproven and largely unquantified. While doctors have identified legitimate medical uses for marijuana, there is no evidence that legalized recreational marijuana has improved health outcomes.
Consider this: penicillin and insulin are life-saving drugs, yet the government does not allow patients to self-diagnose or self-prescribe them. The same logic should apply to marijuana. Society does not permit citizens to write their own prescriptions, and many medical marijuana cards are issued to individuals seeking recreational use under a false medical pretext.
### Economic Impact Falls Short of Projections
The economics of marijuana legalization have also fallen far short of earlier projections.
Job creation within the marijuana industry has been extremely modest, accounting for only a small fraction of total employment growth and an even smaller share of overall jobs.
The claim of increased tax revenue is technically true in a narrow sense—states do collect more tax on legal marijuana versus illegal sales. However, many studies tout projected gross revenue rather than net revenue, which is negative in most states.
For example, a Colorado Christian University/Centennial Institute analysis found that for every dollar gained in marijuana tax revenue, Coloradans spent approximately $4.50 mitigating the effects of legalization. This 4.5 to 1 cost-to-revenue ratio is driven largely by healthcare burdens and education-related impacts such as higher dropout rates.
### Social Costs Outweigh Revenue Gains
While some states that have legalized marijuana experience modest tax revenue increases, those gains are overshadowed by sharp social costs.
States including Colorado, Oregon, California, and Washington have all seen significant rises in homelessness, substance use disorders, and arrests in the years following legalization.
A report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found that after marijuana was legalized, substance use disorders increased by 17%, chronic homelessness rose by 35%, and arrests climbed by 13%.
### Rising Healthcare and Safety Concerns
The direct, measurable costs related to healthcare and safety are substantial.
Over the past decade in Colorado, marijuana-related hospitalizations, emergency room visits, poison control calls, DUIs, and fatal crashes involving drivers who tested positive for cannabinoids have all increased.
Accidental child exposure to marijuana, as well as injuries to children who have ingested marijuana, have also risen dramatically.
Beyond healthcare and law enforcement expenses, additional but harder-to-measure economic losses stem from reduced labor force participation and lower overall productivity.
### Legalization Has Not Reduced Prison Overcrowding
The belief that legalizing marijuana would reduce prison overcrowding has not come to fruition.
While arrests for marijuana and other drugs have declined, this reflects reduced enforcement rather than a real decrease in trafficking, sales, or use.
Overdose deaths have skyrocketed, indicating that enforcement has weakened while the underlying crisis has intensified. Moreover, overdose deaths only represent a fraction of total overdoses, which now occur several times more often.
Many lives are being saved by the widespread use of Narcan, masking the true scale of the problem.
### Increased Marijuana-Impaired Driving
Marijuana-impaired driving has also increased significantly in states that legalized marijuana.
The share of DUIs involving marijuana has risen, as have traffic fatalities involving drivers who tested positive for cannabinoids. Overall, car crashes have increased in these states, creating further public safety concerns.
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In conclusion, while Americans may be growing more optimistic about solutions to illegal drug problems, this optimism does not translate into support for legalization. The anticipated benefits of drug legalization have largely not materialized, and the social, economic, and health-related costs continue to mount.
Accurate media reporting and informed public discourse are essential for understanding the complex realities of drug legalization and its impacts.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/11/support-drug-legalization-waning-benefits-have-not-materialized/
