Medical marijuana is even more popular than replacing the BCS with a college football playoff!
(ABC News) Eight in 10 Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use and nearly half favor decriminalizing the drug more generally, both far higher than a decade ago.
With New Jersey [becoming] the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana, 81 percent in this national ABC News/Washington Post poll support the idea, up from an already substantial 69 percent in 1997. Indeed the main complaint is with restrictions on access, as in the New Jersey law.
Click here for PDF with charts and questionnaire.
Fifty-six percent say that if it’s allowed, doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana to anyone they think it can help. New Jersey’s measure, which is more restrictive than most, limits prescriptions to people with severe illnesses. State health officials can add to the list.
Nationally, this survey finds 46 percent support for legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use the same as it was last spring, and well above its level in past years, for example 39 percent in 2002 and 22 percent in 1997.
Again I’ll ask my proud partners in marijuana law reform: With support for medical marijuana peaking past four out of five, why are medical marijuana policy proposals becoming more restrictive and covering fewer conditions? Support has risen twelve points in twelve years, so why do many people plea away the right to home growing and drop the chronic pain patients?
When it comes to medical marijuana, not only do four out of five support it, but a majority of those who support it actually support very liberal “California Prop-215-style” medical marijuana where a doctor can recommend for any condition. Let’s see, 56% of 81% works out to about 45% of the whole, doesn’t it? 45% of Americans surveyed think your doctor should be able to recommend medical marijuana to you without restriction:
There are similar divisions on whether medical marijuana should be restricted or made available to anyone a doctor thinks it would help. Overall, 56 percent, as noted, prefer no restrictions, while 21 percent say it should be limited to terminally ill patients and an additional 21 percent say it should be limited to those with serious but not necessarily terminal illnesses.
So if I get this correctly, of the 81% of folks who support medical marijuana nationwide, 56% support a California model (trust a doctor), 21% support an Oregon model (a qualifying list), and 21% support a Minnesota model (only terminal cases). That means (and please, check my math) 77% of the 81% of the whole support an Oregon-or-better model, which makes that 62% of Americans overall that think you should get medical marijuana for serious-but-not-terminal conditions and 45% of Americans think your doctor should be able to recommend it to you without limitations.
So again, my policy people, why are we negotiating down to terminal cases only and no home growing?
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[...] attitudes of most in law enforcement are also contrary to the attitudes of the public. A recent ABC News / Washington Post poll found that support for medical marijuana is now at 81% nationwide, with a majority overall (62% [...]
[...] attitudes of most in law enforcement are also contrary to the attitudes of the public. A recent ABC News / Washington Post poll found that support for medical marijuana is now at 81% nationwide, with a majority overall (62% [...]
Hey Russ – I think that the discrepancy you pointed out here just illustrates that the propaganda is [still] working…
The survey question only asked if people supported medical marijuana. When I was talking to many conservatives (primarily Christians), I found terrific support for “medical marijuana” but absolute abhorrence of “growing your own medicine” OR “recreational use.” As the conversation progressed, I discovered that most of them felt that “medical marijuana” was “prescribed” by a doctor and could be picked up at Wal-Green’s or Rite-Aid. The general public’s perception on medical marijuana is distorted by propaganda….our society believes in pills, pharmaceutical companies and FDA approval..(who knows why – people die all the time from all three of those!)
Many of our fellow Oregonians even misunderstand the concept. One of my friends believed that the law enforcement officers “closely monitored” all grow sites to ensure compliance (and she was okay with that, because she felt it prevented abuse of medical marijuana), many others were completely unaware that medical marijuana and Marinol were NOT the same thing. And it is no wonder – if you view the government’s site (as solely one source of such propaganda against medical uses of marijuana):
http://www.justice.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html
“Medical” Marijuana – The Facts
* Medical marijuana already exists. It’s called Marinol.
The page goes on to list many reasons why “Marinol” is medical marijuana and not smoked marijuana (I could tear up each one – but I will leave each to his own on that front – just wanted to point out the idea here that is being spread to the general public outside of medical users and recreational users). It even goes so far as to show a picture of Marinol with a subtitle that says “Marinol – n. medical marijuana pharmaceutical product available through prescription” and a picture of a rolled joint that says “Joint – n. a marijuana cigarette, illegal narcotic substance.”
There you go – according to our government – medical marijuana is a pill called Marinol, and smoked marijuana is still a illegal, narcotic substance.
The general public does not understand that the plant is where medical marijuana is found, not in some laboratory where they attempt to recreate what is created in nature, and fail miserably. You make a very good point that surveys are in favor of medical marijuana and even legalization in many instances. But I think that many involved in supporting legalization or better medical access laws don’t realize how differently the general population understands the argument.
What every person who supports medical marijuana and/or legalization needs to do now is get the public to understand the difference between cannabis, the plant and the pills that the FDA likes to call “medical marijuana.” It would be important to get the public to understand this difference – loud and clear.
The plant is where all the miracles are – not in their FDA approved laboratory. If it occurs naturally, there is just no good reason to create synthetic products that are NOT as good just because of a social stigma. The “general public” needs to understand the difference….
When they do – the laws that seem conflicted with the opinions of the people will also change. Until then, people will continue to support “medical marijuana” because they KNOW it is wonderful, (but they will think it is a pill or something similar!) and they will continue to complain about the plants, the smells, the traffic, the smoking, the dangers, etc. (because these things are signs of the “illegal, narcotic drug” and not valid medical use, per the status quo currently) and the laws will reflect those concerns that are supported by the propaganda….
Just my two cents! :)
Another friggin phone poll for pot. When are they going to learn that when you ask a Pot Legalization question to someone on the phone you are going to get a good percentage of people who are hesitant to really answer how they fell. Just put it to a ballot where people can go behind a closed curtain and prohibition will come to an end.