|
Since November 1996, after the passage of Proposition 215 in California, the Ohio Patient Network counted 66 separate public opinion polls concerning the medical use of marijuana. These polls represent the opinions of more than 50,000 people in thirty states. Ten come from nationwide samples.
The aggregate favorable percentage for the medical uses of marijuana across all polls equals 68% with 25% opposed and 7% "other." Essentially, these polls consistently show that over two thirds of the public supports the medical use of marijuana, while only one quarter opposes it.
In 1998, The Harvard School of Public Health conducted a similar analysis that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (#11). The study reviewed the results of 47 surveys taken between 1978 and 1997 and arrived at a similar conclusion: more than 60% of the public supports the "legalized use of marijuana for medical purposes."
In addition, the 1999 National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, agreed that
"Public support for patient access to marijuana for medical use appears substantial; public opinion polls taken during 1997 and 1998 generally reported 60-70 percent of respondents in favor of allowing medical uses of marijuana."
|
