Sugar Deemed More Dangerous Than Marijuana: Poll

Only eight percent of Americans think that marijuana is a serious health risk, according to a recently released poll. Twice as many Americans thought that sugar was the most serious health risk among a list of legal stimulants and depressants in the U.S.

The poll, conducted and published through a combined effort by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, asked numerous questions concerning public opinion ranging from politics to health. A representative sample of 1000 U.S. citizens were polled, 300 of which completed the poll entirely on their cell phones.

When investigating the perceived danger of some common household stimulants and depressants -- namely alcohol, tobacco, sugar, and marijuana -- tobacco lead the way, being named the largest risk to personal health by 49 percent of those polled.

Interestingly, even though both sugar and marijuana were both deemed largely harmless by most poll participants, sugar actually beat out marijuana, being deemed a larger threat than even tobacco and alcohol by 15 percent of those polled. Half of that population -- only eight percent -- thought marijuana was the most dangerous of the four substances.

These findings reflect what appears to be a trend towards a growing acceptance of marijuana among U.S. citizens. According to the poll findings, this may in-part be due to how the drug has been presented by the media in recent years. According to the poll, 92 percent of Americans have at least heard some news concerning how some states are legalizing the purchase of marijuana for recreational use.

However, while the press has been largely covering stories about how marijuana is being deemed safe and legal by many officials, stories about sugar have all turned negative within the last few months.

In this last month alone, MD Connects has covered approximately ten stories concerning sugar intake. Of these ten, the great majority focused on new research, legislation, and recommendations warning consumers of the harm excess sugar consumption can cause to one's health.

States like New York and California have been fighting to cut sugar consumption for the past few years, warning Americans of the stimulant's risks. Even the World Health Organization has made headlines recently, calling for a massive cut in the world's sugar consumption, for fear of diabetes and heart disease.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was released on March 9.