Pubdate: Thu, 04 Apr 2013
Source: Dayton Daily News (OH)
Copyright: 2013 Columbus Dispatch
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/7JXk4H3l
Website: http://www.daytondailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/120
Author: Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch
Page: B4

STATEWIDE POLL: POT OK FOR MEDICINAL USE

Ohioans Also Favor Weekend Voting, Right to Refuse Unions.

We should be able to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, refuse 
union membership regardless of our workplace and cast our ballot on a 
weekend before an election.

But we don't think pot should be legalized outright, are OK with 
having guns in locked vehicles parked under the Statehouse or Riffe 
Center, and are deadlocked on whether abortions should be banned once 
a fetal heartbeat is detected.

All of these issues that were part of a Saperstein Associates poll of 
more than 1,000 Ohioans might be voted on by the legislature or 
voters statewide at some point.

Marijuana

The questions about marijuana bring almost opposite responses. 
Legalizing it for medical use wins favor, 63 percent to 35 percent, 
while making pot legal for any reason is opposed 59 percent to 37 
percent, the poll found.

"If someone's in pain or suffering from the effects of chemo, then I 
don't feel that that's a problem," said poll respondent Lydia Ritz, 
61, who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn. "The medical need 
for it would far outweigh the risks."

But as a kindergarten teacher in Catholic schools, Ritz said 
supporting recreational use of marijuana would go against everything 
she's teaching her students.

"I would just feel I was going against my own conscience."

Michael Kray II takes an opposing view. The 66-year-old, a lay leader 
at his Dublin church, opposes legalization even for medical uses 
"because it would be abused."

Martin D. Saperstein, head of the Columbus polling firm, noted that 
surveys in other states are finding growing acceptance for legalizing 
marijuana, especially if respondents are told the substance would be 
both regulated and taxed.

Two organizations were circulating petitions to legalize marijuana in 
Ohio, but the proposals are unlikely to make this year's ballot.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those younger than 35 are mostly like to 
favor both medical and total legalization in Ohio. But younger 
Ohioans also are taking the lead on two other controversial issues: 
banning abortions once a fetus' heartbeat can be detected, and 
transforming Ohio into a "right to work" state.

Right to work

Noting the decline of organized labor in Ohio and elsewhere, 
Saperstein said, "It wouldn't be surprising that a whole generation 
of folks is growing up in households that are not union households."

He pointed out that the 65 percent who support a possible November 
ballot issue to make Ohio a right-to-work state contrasts with the 62 
percent who backed the 2011 referendum to overturn Senate Bill 5, 
which gutted public employee collective-bargaining rights.

Under the prospective ballot issue, workers in Ohio no longer would 
be required to join a union - or pay dues or fees to a union - as a 
condition of employment. The proposed amendment would not prevent 
workers from voluntarily joining a union and would not apply to 
current agreements between workers and companies.

Abortion

The "Heartbeat Bill" passed the House last year but never got to a 
vote in the Senate. Supporters promise it will be reintroduced. A 
similar measure was signed into law last month in North Dakota.

The proposal ties in the poll at 47 percent. Females, blacks and 
those 55 and older generally oppose it.

Polling hours

Less controversy exists on whether Ohio polling places should remain 
open on evenings and weekends before an election for early in-person 
voting - the subject of court battles only last year. Nearly 
two-thirds favor the additional hours.

"I think they should be as open as often as possible and as long as 
possible to make it as easy as possible," said David Wells, 61, of 
Union Twp. in Clermont County east of Cincinnati.

"We ought to be doing everything we can to make it easy to vote," 
said Wells, an adjunct journalism professor at Miami University who 
also runs a communication consulting business.

But airplane mechanic Mark Stewart, plant committeeman for United 
Auto Workers local 880 in Akron, takes the other side, saying, 
"Unless you're in the military, you've got to get your butt down 
there on Election Day. It's your civic duty."

Guns in cars

A small majority of Ohioans agrees with legislation approved late 
last year to allow guns in cars parked and locked in the Statehouse 
or Riffe Center garages.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom