Legalise Cannabis NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham believes Australia could be headed in the same direction as the United States, where public backing for legal adult-use cannabis has reached record levels.
A new Gallup poll conducted last month found that 70% of Americans believe adult-use cannabis should be legal — a view held across demographic lines regardless of age, race, gender, education, or political affiliation.
The results, released in the same week that conservative Ohio voted to legalise adult use, also indicate that support remains steady across different states irrespective of whether cannabis is currently legal there.
Buckingham said: "What's compelling… is the depth of support for legalisation among conservative and older voters as well as younger and progressive voters.
"This replicates our experience in the NSW election where some of our highest votes came in regional, working-class areas such as Sydney's western suburbs, the Hunter Valley and the Northern Rivers.
"What these results tell us is that legalisation is a smart political strategy as well as having obvious economic, health and legal benefits.
"I will be bringing our bill to legalise the growing of cannabis plants and sharing the harvest at the final sitting of parliament in a couple of weeks.
"I call on both the government and the opposition to support us and call an end to this outdated, unjust and unpopular prohibition."
Domestic polling has pointed in a similar direction. A survey commissioned by drug law reform organisation Unharm in 2022 found that half of Australians were in favour of legalising adult-use cannabis.
That online survey of 1,086 adults aged 18 and over found 50% of participants backed legalisation — twice the proportion recorded in the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.