Pubdate: Wed, 13 Mar 2002
Source: La Crosse Tribune (WI)
Copyright: 2002, The La Crosse Tribune
Contact:  http://www.lacrossetribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/229
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POLL: 80 PERCENT FAVOR MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

MADISON -- Eighty per cent of Wisconsin residents support legalizing 
marijuana for medical use, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The poll was commissioned by Is My Medicine Legal Yet?, a group that 
supports the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The polling was done by the Chamberlain Research Consultants. It randomly 
selected 600 people age 18 and older in all 72 Wisconsin counties in its 
telephone poll. The poll was conducted Jan. 28-Feb. 7.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.97 percent.

Respondents were asked if they would support or oppose the Legislature 
passing a bill that allows the terminally or serious ill to use marijuana 
for medical purposes.

The poll found that 80.3 per cent of respondents said they supported 
passing such a bill, while 16 percent said no and 3.7 percent were undecided.

Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Frank Boyle, D-Superior, introduced a bill 
in January that would allow the use of marijuana for med ical purposes. The 
bill was referred to the Criminal Jus tice Committee but has not come up 
for a vote.

Similar bills introduced in past legislative sessions have failed to pass.

The poll found a majority of respondents in all regions of Wisconsin 
supported the use of medical marijuana, though support was highest in Dane 
County, where 91.7 per cent of respondents said yes.

The lowest percentage of support was in the northwest, where 70.7 percent 
said they supported legalizing the med ical use of marijuana.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom