• Executive Summary
• Key Findings
• PDF's

To illustrate that the medical use of marijuana, also known as cannabis, is overwhelmingly supported by the public and that, consequently, policy toward it should change, the Ohio Patient Network has identified and reviewed over sixty scientific surveys of the American public conducted from December 1996 through April 2002.

Executive Summary

There can no longer be any doubt. The American public overwhelmingly supports the medical use of marijuana. This exclusive analysis of 66 separate public opinion studies from the Ohio Patient Network clearly illustrates the overwhelming public support for providing patients legal access to this medicine. Check out the report's Key Findings and look into it in more depth by reviewing the links to its narrative and the documents that support it.   

This report also matches polling data to election results in order to create an easy-to-understand model of possible election outcomes if this issue receives Democratic Party or Republican Party support. Third parties will seize this opportunity, if major parties do not, and either achieve similar results or tip an election, as they have already done.

In addition, this report includes a brief history of medicinal cannabis and highlights the impact of its prohibition both numerically and through personal accounts.

Many times, representatives of the Ohio Patient Network and groups like it have asked legislators and public officials to hear and act on their concerns, and many times, the response has been silence. OPN hopes that by collecting, tabulating, and reporting the findings of these sixty-six polls, current and prospective government officials will understand that the public has spoken on this issue. The time has come to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

Key Findings

Key findings of this review include:

Since the passage of California Proposition 215 in 1996, sixty-six separate, scientific polls and studies have been conducted about medical marijuana both nationwide and in more than thirty states, representing the opinions of more than 50,000 respondents.

Of those respondents, more than two-thirds (68%) aggregately support the medical use of cannabis. Those who oppose medicinal cannabis represent only one quarter of the populace. 

Favorable public opinion toward medical marijuana has increased significantly over the past six years. 

Polls taken prior to medicinal cannabis ballot initiatives successfully predict their passage every time. 

When the news covers medical marijuana, the public tracks it more closely than most other health issues. 

Over the last ten years, nearly one-quarter of a million people in the United States have been arrested on medical-marijuana-related offenses. 

The public believes the reports of patients and health professionals regarding the therapeutic value of cannabis; this widespread support should compel lawmakers to shift the policy on the issue. 

Democrats who "strongly favor" candidates who endorse medical cannabis outnumber those who "strongly oppose" it by seven to one. Republicans who "strongly favor" such candidates outnumber those "strongly opposed" by two to one. 

The depth and breadth of support for medical marijuana represents a major opportunity for the political party that chooses to seize it. By supporting this issue, the party can solidify its own base while assuming leadership on an issue that also enjoys substantial cross-party and general public support. 

PDF's

The People Have Spoken is available below as fully formatted PDF (portable document format) files that include the report, its sources, and supporting data tables. Please feel free to copy and distribute. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat, which displays PDF files, please visit Adobe's Web site at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html to download a free copy. Adobe has instructions to walk you through every step of this process. Here are the available PDF files.

The People Have Spoken: Medical Marijuana Polling 1996-2002