65%: Kansas adults back medical marijuana in new Fort Hays State poll as governor's race between legalization backer Holscher and Masterson moves to Toss Up

Sixty-five percent of Kansas adults support legalizing medical marijuana, according to the 2026 Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State University's Docking Institute of Public Affairs, and 58.3 percent support legalizing recreational marijuana for adults. The results arrive days before the Nov. 3 election, in which Kansans will choose a new governor in a race the Cook Political Report moved from "Lean Republican" to "Toss Up" on Oct. 27. The two nominees sit on opposite sides of the cannabis question: Democratic state Sen. Cindy Holscher supports legalization, while Republican Senate President Ty Masterson has blocked medical cannabis bills in the Senate, Cannabis Business Times reported Oct. 28.

Kansas remains one of the few states with no legal medical cannabis program. Cannabis Business Times listed Idaho, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming as the other states with similar prohibition policies on medical cannabis, and said 42 other states have licensed programs for patients with qualifying conditions.

What the survey found

The Docking Institute surveyed an online panel of 603 Kansas adults age 18 and older from Sept. 23 to Oct. 16, according to the survey report. The institute weighted the results by age, gender, education and party registration, which brought the panel to 585 cases after weighting. The university released the survey on Oct. 26.

On marijuana, the report found:

• 65 percent strongly or somewhat support legalizing medical marijuana in general; 15.3 percent oppose.
• 58.3 percent strongly or somewhat support legalizing recreational marijuana in general; 21.3 percent oppose.
• 60.9 percent support legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older to allow state taxation; 20.9 percent oppose.
• 59.3 percent are highly or somewhat likely to vote for a legislative candidate who supports medical marijuana legalization; 17.2 percent are unlikely.

Support crossed party lines. Cannabis Business Times reported that medical legalization drew 72.4 percent of Democrats, 58.7 percent of Republicans and 68.8 percent of independents, and adult-use legalization drew 63.3 percent of Democrats, 54.2 percent of Republicans and 60.3 percent of independents. Marijuana Moment noted that more respondents backed legal cannabis as a revenue source than backed raising taxes on tobacco or alcohol; the report puts those at 55.5 percent for cigarettes and cigars and 54.6 percent for alcohol.

Support dipped slightly from earlier years. "Support for marijuana legalization in 2026 remained strong, although several measures showed modest declines from recent years," survey report co-author Jian Sun said, according to Cannabis Business Times, which noted that medical legalization had 70 percent support in both 2024 and 2025. The Kansas Reflector reported in July that the previous year's survey found 64.8 percent support for recreational legalization and 70.4 percent for medical. Cannabis Business Times said the survey first included cannabis questions in October 2023.

Why voters can't decide it directly

Kansas is one of 24 states that don't allow citizen-initiated ballot measures, Cannabis Business Times reported, so any change to cannabis law has to go through the Legislature.

The same Kansas Speaks survey asked about that process for the first time this year. When respondents were told that all states bordering Kansas have the petition initiative, 58.4 percent supported adopting it and 7.7 percent opposed it. Without that context, 51.3 percent supported it and 12.2 percent opposed it.

The legislative record

The Kansas House passed a medical cannabis bill 79-42 in 2021, Cannabis Business Times reported. The bill carried over into the 2022 session, when it died in the Senate: Masterson never called it for a vote and has since blocked follow-up proposals, the outlet said.

Marijuana Moment reported that Masterson said in 2023 he was open to discussing a limited medical marijuana program, but in 2024 he called medical cannabis legalization a "nonstarter" and suggested it would lead to a surge in "gang activity" and put kids at risk. That year, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill, and a later effort to revive a medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor fell short, Marijuana Moment reported.

In late 2024, lawmakers held an interim committee on medical cannabis. Holscher moved to have the panel endorse medical legalization heading into the 2025 session, but the committee rejected the motion, according to Cannabis Business Times. Marijuana Moment reported that the panel called legalization premature and said lawmakers should first see how federal rescheduling and other reform efforts unfold.

"I just feel like we keep circling here by doing interim committees and never really moving forward on the issue," Holscher said at the time, Cannabis Business Times reported. "We keep rehashing this information. We keep hearing the same debunked theories over and over."

The governor's race

Holscher and Masterson are running to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. In its final ratings, released Oct. 27, the Cook Political Report moved two governor's races toward Democrats, shifting Nebraska from "Likely" to "Lean Republican" and Kansas from "Lean Republican" to "Toss Up."

Holscher has made legalization part of her campaign. In July, she released a video filmed in the parking lot of a Missouri dispensary about 15 minutes from her Overland Park home and said the lot was full of cars with Kansas license plates, the Kansas Reflector reported. "Most Kansas voters think marijuana should be legal in our state, but because it isn't, Kansans buy it out of state, and we miss out on the opportunity to raise more money for schools and public services," she said. In the video, she said Missouri collected $255 million in cannabis taxes the previous year.

More recently, Holscher blamed her opponent for the 2021 bill's defeat. "You know, I got it passed in the House a few years ago. Guess who stopped it in the Senate? Ty Masterson," she said, according to Marijuana Moment. "The things that people want, the things that people support, he has been stopping."

None of the leading Republican candidates in the primary supported legalizing marijuana for any purpose, the Kansas Reflector reported in July, including Masterson.

Kelly has favored medical cannabis while facing a Republican supermajority in the Legislature. "I think it's time for the Legislature to finally legalize medical marijuana, giving the Kansans suffering from chronic pain or post-traumatic stress disorder, and children suffering with Dravet's syndrome (epilepsy) the choice of the treatment they and their doctors determine best suits their needs," she said last year, Cannabis Business Times reported.

What the law says now

Kansans can buy cannabis legally across the border in Missouri or Colorado, but bringing it home carries risk. Possessing any amount of cannabis in Kansas is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine, and possessing 1 pound is a felony punishable by up to 42 months in prison and a $100,000 fine, according to Cannabis Business Times. Those rules apply to medical and adult use alike.

What's next

Election Day is Nov. 3. The survey measures public opinion only and does not change any law. Whoever wins the governor's race, legalization in Kansas would still need to pass the Legislature, because the state has no citizen initiative process.

This report summarizes a public opinion survey, campaign statements and news coverage. It is not legal advice.