ALMOST HALF OF Irish voters would support the legalisation of cannabis for personal recreational use, according to a new poll.

The Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Research poll, carried out on behalf of TheJournal.ie, asked the following question:

Should cannabis be legalised for recreational personal use?

Here are the results:

• Yes: 48%
• No: 41%
• Don’t know: 11%

The issue of legislation of cannabis-based products was in the news this week as a bill that would regulate it for medical use was before the Dáil.

The legislation was passed by the chamber, but still has to go through several stages of legal scrutiny before any such products will be available.

Health Minister Simon Harris said that while he wasn’t opposing the bill at this stage, he had requested that the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) provide him with research on the matter.

Reiterating previously expressed reservations, Harris said he would be “very concerned” if the bill inadvertently legalised cannabis for non-medical purposes.

The US 

A campaign to allow for legalisation of cannabis for recreational use in the US has intensified in recent years, with more states voting to pass laws allowing for it in the recent election.

California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts all voted to back legalised use, sale, and consumption of recreational marijuana on 8 November, joining Colorado, Oregon and other western states.

It’s been legalised for medical use in a swathe of other states.

1,000 people were canvassed as part of the Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Research poll, carried out on Monday of this week.

Read: ‘I’ve seen this work’: Mother takes fight for medical cannabis to Leinster House >

Read: Here’s what it’s like in the first US city to allow marijuana to be smoked socially >