What opinions do Kansans have on marijuana legalization?

TOPEKA (KSNT) – A recently released survey shows how Kansans are feeling regarding the hot topic of marijuana legalization in 2025.

The Fort Hays State University Docking Institute released its 2025 version of the long-running Kansas Speaks survey on Oct. 27. Survey respondents were asked numerous questions, including what they think about legalization for recreational and medical marijuana.

The topic of marijuana appeared several times in four different survey questions. Around 70% of people who responded to the survey indicated they strongly or somewhat support the legalization of medical marijuana while about 59% indicated support for recreational marijuana.

A smaller number of survey respondents said they either somewhat or strongly oppose marijuana legalization. About 24% said they opposed legalizing recreational marijuana while 14% opposed the legalization of medical marijuana.

• Likelihood to vote for a candidate who supports medical marijuana legalization.
  • Highly likely – 35.9%.
  • Somewhat likely – 29.5%.
  • Neither more nor less likely – 16.6%.
  • Somewhat unlikely – 6.4%.
  • Highly unlikely – 9.6%.
  • Don’t know – 2%.
• Opinion on legalizing medical marijuana in general.
  • Strongly support – 43.4%.
  • Somewhat support – 27%.
  • Neutral – 14.4%.
  • Somewhat oppose – 5.6%.
  • Strongly oppose – 8.6%.
  • Don’t know – 1%.
• Opinion on legalizing recreational marijuana in general.
  • Strongly support – 37.4%.
  • Somewhat support – 21.4%.
  • Neutral – 15.8%.
  • Somewhat oppose – 6.8%.
  • Strongly oppose – 17.7%.
  • Don’t know – 1%.
• Legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older to allow taxation by the State of Kansas.
  • Strongly support – 42.4%.
  • Somewhat support – 22.4%.
  • Neutral – 15.2%.
  • Somewhat oppose – 6.8%.
  • Strongly oppose – 12.4%.
  • Don’t know – 0.9%.

Kansas is one of the few states remaining to legalize either medical or recreational marijuana. Marijuana legalization continues to appear annually in the Kansas Legislature while law enforcement agencies, such as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, have conducted recent raids to enforce the state’s laws regarding marijuana products.

FHSU’s Docking Institute used a panel of 526 adult Kansas residents to gather responses for the online survey from Sept. 26 to Oct. 14 this year. You can download a copy of the full 2025 survey and view surveys from previous years by clicking here.

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