Minnesota Poll: Two-to-One Support for Medical Marijuana Statewide

90% of Twin Cities Residents Support Main Provision
of Disqualified Charter Amendment

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA -- Today's Minnesota Court of Appeals hearing on a medical marijuana charter amendment barred from the Minneapolis city ballot comes as supporters released a Zogby poll showing two-to-one support for medical marijuana statewide. Additionally, 90% of Twin Cities residents support the main provision of the charter amendment -- that qualified patients be "allowed to purchase medical marijuana legally from a nonprofit, regulated dispensary, similar to a pharmacy." Only 2.5% of residents surveyed were opposed.

Poll results are available online at http://mpp.org/MN/poll.html. The telephone poll of 501 likely voters was conducted by Zogby International from February 18 to 21. The margin of error is +/- 4.5%.

"The Minneapolis City Council's action barring the charter amendment was unconstitutional, and we believe we will prevail on the merits," said Neal Levine, a former Minneapolis resident who now serves as director of state policies for MPP. "The City Council, under the recommendation of the Charter Commission, disenfranchised more than 12,000 Minneapolitans. These poll results clearly show that the City Council's ill-advised action thwarted the will of a super-majority of voters in the city, not just the thousands of residents who signed this petition."

"As a medical marijuana patient, I deserve to be protected from the threat of arrest for the simple act of taking my medicine," said Don Haumant, a plaintiff in the action against the city and a Minneapolis voter who was a legally registered medical marijuana patient when he lived in California. "The city's action has deprived me of my right to vote on an issue that is central to my health and well-being."

Medical marijuana legislation is currently being prepared for introduction in the Minnesota Legislature. Ten states have effective medical marijuana laws protecting patients and their caregivers from arrest and imprisonment: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Vermont's medical marijuana law passed through its legislature in May 2004, while Montanans approved their law via ballot initiative on November 2, 2004.


Link to article: http://www.mpp.org/r...nr20050310.html

By Mike Mosedale
Source: City Pages

Minnesota -- One of the more perplexing aspects of contemporary political dialogue is the disconnect between public opinion and the public's perception of public opinion. Case in point: a recent Zogby International poll examining the attitudes of Minnesotans about medical marijuana. According to the poll, which was commissioned by the D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, 78 percent of Minneapolis-St. Paul residents favor legislation that would allow sick people to grow and smoke marijuana. In the suburbs, a hefty 60 percent back such a bill. Even in greater Minnesota, where anti-pot attitudes remain strongest, the figure is 51 percent. Overall, then, statewide support for the measure stands at a stout 59 percent.

(Among other things, this suggests that medical marijuana is more popular in Minnesota than the current commander-in-chief.)

However, when asked about the beliefs of their fellow Minnesotans, both urbanites and suburbanites grossly underestimate the level of acceptance for medical pot. Only 43 percent of city folk believe a majority of their fellow Minnesotans would approve of a cancer-stricken neighbor cultivating the sweet leaf. In the suburbs, meanwhile, a meager 19 percent of respondents recognize the fact that Minnesota favors legalization. Conclusion: Minnesotans are more merciful--and, in some regards, more liberal--than they realize. This is especially true in suburbia.

For medical marijuana advocates, such dissonances are a continuing and understandable cause of frustration. Neal Levine, a former Minneapolis resident who now heads up state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project, hopes the results of the Zogby poll will embolden Minnesota lawmakers to enact medical marijuana legislation this session. But, Levine notes, perceptions among politicians about public attitudes remain a problem. No legislator wants to be seen as soft on drugs. And with the Office of National Drug Control Policy spending more than $100 million a year on anti-pot advertising, many feel skittish at the mere mention of marijuana.

At the same time, the pro-pot forces have some new ammunition to bolster their argument. This November, 20 states and municipalities nationwide placed medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot. Seventeen of those initiatives passed. Notably, the medical marijuana issue does not split in the classic red state-blue state manner. For instance, in Montana, where 59 percent of voters cast a ballot for Bush and 66 percent supported a ban on gay marriage, the medical pot initiative collected an impressive 62 percent of the electorate.

In other words, while God, guns, and gays may remain the shibboleths of modern American political strategists, it's time to strike another G-word--ganja--from the list.

Source: City Pages (MN)
Author: Mike Mosedale
Published: March 23, 2005 - Volume 26 - Issue 1268
Copyright: 2005 City Pages Media, Inc.
Contact: letters@citypages.com
Website: http://www.citypages.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisn...read20393.shtml

Minnesotan, born and raised.

By Chris Hubbuch, Winona Daily News
Source: Winona Daily News

Minnesota -- State Sen. Robert Kierlin of Winona has co-authored a bill to protect seriously ill people from prosecution for using medicinal marijuana.

Although federal law bars all use of the drug, states have passed laws to exempt seriously ill patients from state-level prosecution. Minnesota would become the 11th state to enact such a measure if Kierlin's bill, introduced Tuesday, passes the Legislature.

"It's a question of compassion," the Republican said. "With terminal illnesses, if there's any chance to solve any of the pain problem with any drug we should give it a shot." Sixty percent of Minnesotans say they would support a law to allow people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious illnesses to use marijuana for medical purposes with physician approval, according to a recent poll conducted by Zogby International.

The same poll showed that in greater Minnesota about 29 percent of people said they would be less likely to vote for a representative or senator who voted against a medical marijuana bill.

"There's a feeling that every legislator should be extremely tough on every drug," Kierlin said, acknowledging that such proposals are controversial.

Kierlin said he signed on to the bill, authored by Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, only after the language was tightened to allow only people with terminal illness or extreme pain to use the drug with their doctors' consent.

"Cancer is not a partisan disease," said Neal Levine, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., organization that works to decriminalize marijuana.

Marijuana can relieve pain, nausea and muscle spasms and can stimulate appetite. It is often used to treat patients with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and epilepsy.

Levine estimates that hundreds of seriously ill Minnesotans now secretly use marijuana to treat their symptoms.

"It's just a sad situation," Levine said. "People shouldn't be treated like criminals just because they're trying to alleviate their pain."

Similar bills have died in the Legislature in past years. Most of those bills have been authored by urban DFL legislators, said Levine, a former Minnesotan.

This bill is the first with bipartisan and out-state support, Levine said.

Levine is hopeful that if the bill does not pass it might get to a committee vote and "build up some steam" for next year.

Complete Title: Compassion Prompts Kierlin To Co-Author Medical Marijuana Bill

Source: Winona Daily News (MN)
Author: Chris Hubbuch, Winona Daily News
Published: Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Winona Daily News
Contact: letters@winonadailynews.com
Website: http://www.winonadailynews.com/
Link to article: http://www.cannabisn...read20423.shtml