Christine Green
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Since 1996, two dozen states have passed laws allowing marijuana use by a patient with a doctor's recommendation, and a new poll appears to show overwhelming public support.
The 1,561-respondent survey, conducted in late May and released Monday by Quinnipiac University, found 89 percent support for "allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it."
Support was overwhelming across age, racial, gender, educational and partisan demographics, including among Republicans – at 81 percent – and people 65 and older, at 89 percent. An 87 percent majority said veterans should have access to pot "in pill form" from the Veterans Health Administration – something that may be possible soon after recent congressional action.
Medical marijuana has been the pioneering prong of the cannabis reform movement, which also includes a push to legalize non-intoxicating industrial hemp – allowed since 2014 through state pilot programs – and legalization of marijuana for recreational use, a policy adopted by four states and the nation's capital.
The poll found 54 percent support for legal recreational marijuana, with 41 percent opposition. There was a significant gender gap on that issue, with 60 percent of men but just 48 percent of women supporting legalization.
But with super-majority support, is public debate about medical marijuana over?
Reformers hope so, as Floridians appear poised to pass a medical marijuana ballot measure in November after a similar one failed to win 60 percent for passage in 2014.
"The sustained support shows that medical cannabis is a uniting issue among all facets of the American people," says Mike Liszewski, government affairs director for the pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access. "It means that politicians from both sides of the aisle should feel both safe and motivated to end the state-federal conflict on medical cannabis laws and allow physicians to have this tool in their toolbox to treat their patients."
Possession of marijuana for any reason outside approved research remains a federal crime, but the Bush and Obama administrations have largely tolerated state-legal cannabis markets. In 2014, Congress passed budget language to block federal prosecutors and anti-drug agents from targeting state medical marijuana programs, which was adopted again last year.
With the impending changeover in presidential administrations, the overwhelming public sentiment may have real-world effects. Some marijuana reform advocates worry that a President Donald Trump would select New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as his attorney general – someone who during his own unsuccessful presidential run said he would shut down recreational marijuana markets for violating federal law. Christie also said he was "not against medical marijuana," though he has defended a strict approach.
Polls generally show overwhelming support for legal access to medical marijuana. The previous high-water mark appears to be an 88-10 lead for supporters in a 2014 CNN poll.
But Kevin Sabet, a former presidential drug policy adviser who now leads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, says the debate is not over as the other half of states and federal lawmakers consider legalizing medical use.
Sabet points out that doctors in states with medical marijuana laws don't actually "prescribe" marijuana, but rather "recommend" it as a treatment for various conditions. Doctors can't prescribe Schedule I drugs – a federal category that controversially defines pot as having no medical value – so states instead set up a workaround employing physician "recommendations."
"This is for 'prescribing medical marijuana ... (from) doctor(s).' That has nothing to do with folks getting pot recommended for their headaches and pain, which is what is happening in the various states," Sabet says in an email. "I think states like Florida and others are examples of why this debate is not over at all. There is a big difference between marijuana-based medicines prescribed by doctors and dispensed in pharmacies – which we support – and pot brownies for a 23-year-old with a headache."
Pot Breathalyzer May Be Coming Soon to Police Near You
University of California scientists appear to have figured out how to quantify THC on the breath of recent smokers.
Florida's proposed medical marijuana law would allow doctors to use their own judgment to determine what conditions can be treated with marijuana, a standard also in place in the nation's capital. Critics fear lax standards for medical use essentially allow de facto recreational legalization.
In addition to the two dozen states that allow medical marijuana, Virginia has a dated and unused law that allows the prescribing of marijuana, and others – including many in the Deep South – allow cannabis-derived cannabidiol to treat epilepsy.
Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, tells U.S. News "we always use the word 'prescribe'" because "it's more specific than recommend," a word he says may confuse respondents.
"That was the intent of the question: Do you want doctors to be able to write that script so our people get it in their hands, rather than just say, 'Hey, you should look into this,'" Malloy says.
Research into the medicinal qualities of marijuana is ongoing, though it's relatively time-consuming given the additional hurdles that come with researching Schedule I substances. One research barrier – mandatory review by the Public Health Service of pot studies – has fallen recently, and federal regulators may be about to modify the Schedule I designation.
"I think one of the reasons why half the states have yet to adopt comprehensive medical cannabis programs is stigma against the plant," Liszewski says. "There is a bias against [tetrahydrocannabinol] and a notion that people who use cannabis cannot be productive members of society. ... That bias is painfully ironic, because for many patients, medical cannabis is the very thing that allows them to be productive members of society."
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Debate Over? 89 Percent Support Medical Pot in New Poll | US News
Author: Steven Nelson
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Caroline Lewis
Website: U.S. News & World Report: News, Rankings and Analysis on Politics, Education, Healthcare and More
The 1,561-respondent survey, conducted in late May and released Monday by Quinnipiac University, found 89 percent support for "allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it."
Support was overwhelming across age, racial, gender, educational and partisan demographics, including among Republicans – at 81 percent – and people 65 and older, at 89 percent. An 87 percent majority said veterans should have access to pot "in pill form" from the Veterans Health Administration – something that may be possible soon after recent congressional action.
Medical marijuana has been the pioneering prong of the cannabis reform movement, which also includes a push to legalize non-intoxicating industrial hemp – allowed since 2014 through state pilot programs – and legalization of marijuana for recreational use, a policy adopted by four states and the nation's capital.
The poll found 54 percent support for legal recreational marijuana, with 41 percent opposition. There was a significant gender gap on that issue, with 60 percent of men but just 48 percent of women supporting legalization.
But with super-majority support, is public debate about medical marijuana over?
Reformers hope so, as Floridians appear poised to pass a medical marijuana ballot measure in November after a similar one failed to win 60 percent for passage in 2014.
"The sustained support shows that medical cannabis is a uniting issue among all facets of the American people," says Mike Liszewski, government affairs director for the pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access. "It means that politicians from both sides of the aisle should feel both safe and motivated to end the state-federal conflict on medical cannabis laws and allow physicians to have this tool in their toolbox to treat their patients."
Possession of marijuana for any reason outside approved research remains a federal crime, but the Bush and Obama administrations have largely tolerated state-legal cannabis markets. In 2014, Congress passed budget language to block federal prosecutors and anti-drug agents from targeting state medical marijuana programs, which was adopted again last year.
With the impending changeover in presidential administrations, the overwhelming public sentiment may have real-world effects. Some marijuana reform advocates worry that a President Donald Trump would select New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as his attorney general – someone who during his own unsuccessful presidential run said he would shut down recreational marijuana markets for violating federal law. Christie also said he was "not against medical marijuana," though he has defended a strict approach.
Polls generally show overwhelming support for legal access to medical marijuana. The previous high-water mark appears to be an 88-10 lead for supporters in a 2014 CNN poll.
But Kevin Sabet, a former presidential drug policy adviser who now leads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, says the debate is not over as the other half of states and federal lawmakers consider legalizing medical use.
Sabet points out that doctors in states with medical marijuana laws don't actually "prescribe" marijuana, but rather "recommend" it as a treatment for various conditions. Doctors can't prescribe Schedule I drugs – a federal category that controversially defines pot as having no medical value – so states instead set up a workaround employing physician "recommendations."
"This is for 'prescribing medical marijuana ... (from) doctor(s).' That has nothing to do with folks getting pot recommended for their headaches and pain, which is what is happening in the various states," Sabet says in an email. "I think states like Florida and others are examples of why this debate is not over at all. There is a big difference between marijuana-based medicines prescribed by doctors and dispensed in pharmacies – which we support – and pot brownies for a 23-year-old with a headache."
Pot Breathalyzer May Be Coming Soon to Police Near You
University of California scientists appear to have figured out how to quantify THC on the breath of recent smokers.
Florida's proposed medical marijuana law would allow doctors to use their own judgment to determine what conditions can be treated with marijuana, a standard also in place in the nation's capital. Critics fear lax standards for medical use essentially allow de facto recreational legalization.
In addition to the two dozen states that allow medical marijuana, Virginia has a dated and unused law that allows the prescribing of marijuana, and others – including many in the Deep South – allow cannabis-derived cannabidiol to treat epilepsy.
Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, tells U.S. News "we always use the word 'prescribe'" because "it's more specific than recommend," a word he says may confuse respondents.
"That was the intent of the question: Do you want doctors to be able to write that script so our people get it in their hands, rather than just say, 'Hey, you should look into this,'" Malloy says.
Research into the medicinal qualities of marijuana is ongoing, though it's relatively time-consuming given the additional hurdles that come with researching Schedule I substances. One research barrier – mandatory review by the Public Health Service of pot studies – has fallen recently, and federal regulators may be about to modify the Schedule I designation.
"I think one of the reasons why half the states have yet to adopt comprehensive medical cannabis programs is stigma against the plant," Liszewski says. "There is a bias against [tetrahydrocannabinol] and a notion that people who use cannabis cannot be productive members of society. ... That bias is painfully ironic, because for many patients, medical cannabis is the very thing that allows them to be productive members of society."
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Debate Over? 89 Percent Support Medical Pot in New Poll | US News
Author: Steven Nelson
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Caroline Lewis
Website: U.S. News & World Report: News, Rankings and Analysis on Politics, Education, Healthcare and More
