Dear editor: Due to the great controversies about the subject, the objective was to know the public opinion about the legalization of the medicinal (MM) and recreational marijuana RM. For that, a survey was applied in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Individuals were randomly selected from June to July 2016 and verbal consent was obtained. The instrument was composed of three sections and has been previously described.¹ Responses were trichotomized: agreed (levels 1 and 2), neither agreed - nor disagreed (level 3) and disagreed (levels 4 and 5) and the results were expressed as percentages. Differences between groups were analyzed with a Chi-square test and association with a Spearman correlation.

202 individuals were surveyed, the average age was 35 years, 61% were females, 3.4% had elementary, 4.4% secondary, 26.6% high-school, 49.8% bachelor and 15.8% postgraduate level of education. Overall, 66.5% agree with legalization of MM, 78.6% consider that it is safe when consumed responsibly and 39.8% consider that legalization will increase rates of delinquency. The latter was different according to the level of education. The 39.8% consider that legalization will undermine efforts against drugs and 23.4% consider that people that support legalization of MM are consumers of drugs. There was a significant difference by level of education (table I). A positive association was found between those who self-reported having received formal education about MM and the opinion about the acceptance of legalization and the safety in its use (table II). On the other hand, 25.8% support legalization of RM, 44.3% consider that it is safe when used responsibly and 41.3% consider that its legalization for any use will increase rates of delinquency. There was a significant difference by level of education in those that consider that RM is safe when it used responsibly. A negative association was found between the level of education and the opinion about safety in its use; and also a negative association between the age and “support for legalization” and “the safety in the use of RM”. 49.1% reported having received formal education regarding MM or RM, 44.8% know some person that uses marijuana to treat some illness and 35.2% know some person that consumes RM. A negative association was found between the educational level and the opinion: “those who support the legalization are likely drug users”.

Table I Attitudes toward medicinal and recreational marijuana in metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, 2016 

The survey was applied in the Medical área of Universitad Autónoma de Nuevo León and the vecinity of the Rectory building from June to July 2016

Table II Association between attitudes to medicinal and recreational marijuana and sociodemographic variables. Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, 2016 

*p<0.05

Spearman correlation

The survey was applied in the Medical area of Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and the vicinity of the Rectory building from June to July 2016

Support for legalization of MM is similar to a previous study in Mexico (64%),² lower than in Israel (78%) and higher than in Norway (53%).³ Our results show that few individuals support legalization of RM (25%), which is higher than a previous study in Mexico (10%)2 but much lower than a recent study in USA.⁴ The major public support for legalization of MM versus RM in Mexico is consistent with other Latin-American countries.⁵

The positive association between “to have received formal education about marijuana” with “support for legalization of MM” and with “safety when used responsibly” highlight the importance and the need of education about MM and RM.