One of the country’s largest and most widely respected polling companies, YouGov, has published the latest results of a representative survey examining the British public’s attitudes towards cannabis.
While YouGov acknowledged that the survey was timed to coincide with 4/20 (April 20), the unofficial date for celebrations surrounding ‘cannabis culture’, it offers meaningful insight into whether the attitudes of the British public align with those recently represented in the mainstream media.
Conducted between March 31 and April 01 2026, the survey polled 2053 adults throughout Great Britain and weighted the sample to be representative of the adult population.
Its scope was broad, questioning its sample base on everything from their views on hard drugs to awareness of party policy positions, harm perceptions, police enforcement, crime expectations, and whether drug use should be treated as a health or criminal matter.
Usage and appetite
According to the study, more than a third of Britons (37%) say they have used cannabis in some form, with 25% who say they have done so once or twice, and 12% who say they have done so many times.
Notably, the demographic breakdown shows that adults aged 25-49 were the cohort most likely to have used cannabis, with the highest lifetime prevalence of 47%, significantly higher than the 23% reported among the youngest cohort (18-24) and the 25% among over-65’s.
Among those who have used cannabis at some point in their life, 29% say they would be willing to do so again. The majority, 66%, say they would not, with 45% saying they are not willing at all.
For Britons who say they have never used cannabis, 7% say they would consider trying it if it were legalised, against 87% who would not.
As such, YouGov calculates that 15% of the British public express some appetite for future use.
Among prior users who favour legalisation, 45% say they would use it again, compared to just 3% of those who favour criminalisation. A substantial proportion of those supporting legalisation have no intention of using the product themselves.
The three-way split
Respondents were also questioned on their attitudes towards legalisation. When given a binary option, either supporting or opposing legalisation, just under half (47%) said they were in favour, compared to 43% who said they were opposed, and 11% undecided.
When asked to choose between three distinct positions, keeping cannabis a criminal offence, decriminalisation, and full legalisation, the picture became more nuanced.
Just over a third (35%) favour criminalisation, 33% favour legalisation, and 23% favour decriminalisation, defined as treating possession and sale as a minor offence rather than a criminal one. Nine per cent say they don’t know.
Among these three main cohorts, political affiliation appeared to hold significant weight. Conservative voters favour criminalisation at 54%, with legalisation at 17%, while Labour and Liberal Democrat voters are more evenly distributed across all three options.
Among the country’s younger parties, this dynamic becomes far more pronounced. Reform UK voters sit at 42% for criminalisation and 34% for legalisation, notable given that Reform supporters report joint-highest lifetime cannabis use at 43%, level with Green voters.
Green voters, meanwhile, are the clearest outlier with 54% in favour of legalisation and only 22% in favour of maintaining the criminal status.
On party policy awareness, the data reveal a significant gap between stated party positions and public knowledge. The Liberal Democrats were the only major party to formally pledge cannabis legalisation at the 2024 general election, yet just 7% of the public identify them as holding that position. By contrast, 31% believe the Greens support legalisation, and 52% say they do not know which, if any, party supports it.
Harm, enforcement, and the health-crime divide
A clear majority of Britons, 57%, consider cannabis harmful to regular users, including 22% who consider it very harmful.
However, the public draws a clear distinction between cannabis and ‘hard drugs’, with 97% stating that they consider both heroin and crack cocaine harmful, with over 90% selecting the strongest response for each. Meanwhile, 83% favour keeping heroin and crack cocaine fully criminalised against just 35% for cannabis.
On enforcement, opinion is split more evenly, with 24% believing the police are too tough on cannabis, 25% considering the current stance about right, and 26% beleiving it is not tough enough.
One key finding from this section suggests that more Britons (60%) believe that making a drug illegal is ineffective at preventing use than think regular cannabis use is harmful.
This majority position holds even among those who favour keeping cannabis criminalised, of whom 48% share that view.
On whether drug use should be treated as a health or criminal issue, the largest group, 40%, say both equally, with 25% favouring the health framing and 26% the criminal one. On the impact of legalisation on crime, 34% expect no difference, 29% expect less crime, and 23% expect more.
Does the UK’s media narrative represent public opinion?
At the beginning of 2026, a flurry of stories were published across publications like the Daily Mail and GB News describing medical cannabis as a ‘shocking loophole’, while characterising patients as benefits claimants accessing ‘super-strength’ cannabis.
The latest consistent media scrutiny of the UK’s medical cannabis industry is far more nuanced, and as we’ve been clear about in our previous reporting, raises legitimate questions about the practices of an industry that promotes itself as medical.
However, this survey shows a distinct differentiation between perceived attitudes towards the medical cannabis industry and cannabis legalisation at large.
It comes as Charlotte Caldwell, the mother whose campaign helped push the 2018 legalisation of medical cannabis over the line, launched a new campaign group, TRACD, calling on governments across the UK to run regulated recreational pilots as the only credible solution to what she describes as the country’s ‘broken cannabis policy.’
Caldwell has been critical of the current medical market, but her proposed remedy is not a tighter prohibition, but a form of regulated legalisation.
The YouGov data, published the same day TRACD launched, suggests the public is closer to that position than the coverage surrounding her story implies. Just 35% of Britons favour keeping cannabis a criminal offence. Sixty per cent consider criminalisation an ineffective deterrent. And 56% favour some form of reform to the current legal status, whether decriminalisation or full legalisation.
Despite the apparent tension between public opinion and the media narrative, on the fundamental question of whether the current approach is working, they may actually agree.
A version of this article was originally published by Business of Cannabis, and it has been reprinted here with permission.
