According to a recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on attitudes towards drugs in the United States, nearly 80% of Australians support the decriminalization of cannabis. This suggests that Australians are becoming more accepting of cannabis.
The report depicts the ever-changing nature of attitudes towards drug use and reports on public perceptions of alcohol, drugs, cannabis, and other illegal substances.
Marijuana support is increasing while tobacco is decreasing.
According to a report based on data from 2019, 78% of Australians support the decriminalization of marijuana, up from 66% in 2010. An equal number of people stated that they would not use marijuana even if it were legalized. The legalization of marijuana is supported by 41% of people, which is higher than the previous figure of 25%.
Different states and territories in Australia have varying levels of decriminalization, but it is only the Australian Capital Territory that has legalized it under specific circumstances.
Marijuana remains the most commonly used illegal drug in Australia, with over one in ten Australians having used it within the last 12 months, and over a third of people having used it at some point in their lives.
The number of people who believe that possessing marijuana should be considered a criminal offense has decreased by 22% compared to the previous 34%. Similarly, the number of people who support harsher punishment has dropped from 60% to 44%.
The popularity of tobacco continues to decline. More than 75% of Australians support stricter penalties and enforcement against the sale of tobacco products to children. Over two-thirds of people also want to see similar restrictions on electronic cigarettes as traditional tobacco products, including limitations in public places.
Support for raising tobacco taxes to pay for education or healthcare programs, as well as for restricting retail and retail license plans, has also slightly decreased.
Prevention is better than cure: Australians support drug education, but do not support illegal drugs other than marijuana.
Compared with law enforcement, Australians generally show greater support for investing in education and treatment plans to reduce the use of all types of drugs.
Illegal drugs other than marijuana are an exception. While more Australians support education programs, they are also more likely to favor legal action rather than treatment support when it comes to substances such as cocaine and heroin.
Less than 10 percent of Australians support the legalization of cocaine (with a 8 percent approval rating, higher than 6.3 percent), ecstasy (with a 9.5 percent approval rating, higher than 6.8 percent), heroin (at 5.6 percent), and methamphetamine (at 4.6 percent).
Please provide a specific text to translate.
This document has been generated through artificial intelligence translation and is provided solely for the purposes of industry discourse and learning. Please note that the intellectual property rights of the content belong to the original media source or author. Owing to certain limitations in the translation process, there may be discrepancies between the translated text and the original content. We recommend referring to the original source for complete accuracy. In case of any inaccuracies, we invite you to reach out to us with corrections. If you believe any content has infringed upon your rights, please contact us immediately for its removal.
