“More than one-third of participants felt that daily smoking of cannabis was safer than tobacco, and their views increasingly favored safety of cannabis vs tobacco over time (1742 participants [36.7%] in 2017 vs 2107 participants [44.3%] in 2021; P < .001)”
That’s fair. Agreed, I’d love to see that stat. For me, tracking public perception over time is helpful and insightful in its own way. For example: Anticipating voting trends and legislation.
It’s also worth noting there are several barriers for cannabis research, even with all the changes in legalization, production, and access. Here’s an article from 2021 about research barriers, but progress has been made recently
Yep, you poll citizens when you want to know if something is politically popular.