FRC Poll Finds That, With Information, Americans Reject Marijuana As Medicine

WASHINGTON, June 18 /PRNewswire/  "When Americans are warned about
potential abuses and consequences of legal pot for 'medicine' they are more
likely to reject 'medical' marijuana initiatives," FRC Senior Policy Advisor
Bob Maginnis said Wednesday. 

Maginnis referred to a recent poll commissioned by the Family Research
Council that surveyed 1,000 registered voters across the nation as well as
200 adolescents (ages 1217) on the issue of "medical" marijuana. 

"Most poll respondents believe that patients deserve the right to receive
appropriate treatment for conditions.  Almost three out of four people
surveyed claim to be open to the use of marijuana as a medicine if patients
believed it would relieve their condition," Maginnis said.  "The same
respondents became suspicious, however, when the patients' rights debate is
put into the context of the 'marijuana as a medicine' debate.  As respondents
were given information about potential uses for pot, support for 'medical'
marijuana dropped sharply. 

"When told that marijuana would be available for virtually any condition (as
California's Proposition 215 would allow), 69 percent of those surveyed would
be less likely to support legalization for medical use.  When told about the
availability of other, legal therapies, 55 percent became more likely to
oppose marijuana as medicine.  Seventythree percent of adults were either
concerned or outraged that much of the push for legalizing the use of
marijuana as 'medicine' comes from organizations devoted to pushing outright
legalization of the drug. 

"Another very interesting aspect of this poll is the adolescent response.
Teens polled were more wary of the idea of marijuana as 'medicine' than were
adults.  For example, more than half (52 percent) of adolescents polled fear
that allowing the medical use of marijuana will encourage more illicit
recreational use, while only 37 percent of adults aged 3349 have similar
concerns." 

Family Research Council's poll was conducted by The Polling Company.  Its
margin of error at 95 percent confidence for the total sample is 2.8
percentage points.