Record Percentage of Americans now Backs Marijuana Legalization Washington:  More than one in three Americans say that the use of marijuana should be legal, according to the results of last week's annual USA Today/Gallup poll.  The 34 percent support, up from just 25 percent in 1995, is the highest level ever recorded by Gallup. "The American public are fed up with the 'war on drugs' and are looking for alternative policies," said NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup.  "Increasingly, they are supporting marijuana legalization as a way to reduce costs, reduce harm and protect our children." America's rapidly rising public support for marijuana legalization mimics dramatic upticks recently recorded in England and in Canada.  According to a July poll commissioned by the Independent on Sunday newspaper, approximately half of all Britons support legalizing marijuana - up from 26 percent in 1996.  In Canada, 47 percent of adults now back marijuana legalization, double the percentage recorded in 1990.  Governments in both of those nations recently established commissions to conduct scientific inquiries into the decriminalization of marijuana. The USA Today/Gallup poll found support for legalization to be strongest among 18- to 49-year-olds, people in the West and independent voters.  Opposition was greatest among the elderly, regular churchgoers and Republicans.