Pew Research Center Indicates Majority of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana

A long-time fantasy for dope users out there is finally coming true-for the first time, they're in the majority. That's right. Most Americans are backing the legalization of MJ, marking significant changes in public opinion toward the drug, especially among the young, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center this week.

The survey notes that 52 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, which the federal government deems as illegal despite the fact that many states have loosened their restrictions for "pot" use.

"For the first time in more than four decades of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana," Pew said in a statement.

Support for hash has risen 11 points since 2010 according to Yahoo! News and was up from just 12 percent backing in 1969, when 84 percent of those polled opposed legalization. The most recent survey shows that just a little less than half of Americans opposed legalization at 45 percent.

The Pew poll found that 65 percent of people born since 1980 favor legalizing marijuana use, up from 36 percent in 2008, including 50 percent of baby boomers, which is up from 17 percent in 1990.

However, some government skeptics at 72 percent say enforcing marijuana laws would cost more than they are worth.

Regardless, looks like we're going to be seeing some big changes when it comes to puffing the magic dragon, and not just from the two states that have already legalized the sale and possession of the drug.

"You're going to start seeing more politicians running toward our movement instead of away from it, just as we've seen happen"  Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, an advocacy group.

The Pew survey was conducted March 13-17 among 1,501 adults. The margin of error was 2.9 percentage points.