MOST CANADIANS OK WITH MEDICINAL MARIJUANA: POLL

Findings Also Show Almost Half Back Legalization

Although Canadians are hardly trading maple leaves for marijuana
leaves, newly published findings suggest Cheech and Chong would feel
right at home here.

In a nationwide survey, 93 per cent of Canadians indicated they
accept the idea of people legally smoking marijuana for health reasons.

Support for the overall legalization of marijuana is also strong,
with almost half of Canadians giving it a hearty thumbs up -- the
same percentage of people who, in a 2004 Health Canada sponsored
survey were found to have smoked cannabis in their lifetime.

Results of the study of 2,400 adults are published in the new book
The Boomer Factor: What Canada's Most Famous Generation is Leaving
Behind, authored by University of Lethbridge sociologist Reginald Bibby.

The findings are particularly striking in light of last week's
Supreme Court ruling in favour of marijuana activist Grant Krieger.
He was awarded a new trial after jurors were directed by the judge to
find the accused guilty of possessing the drug for the purposes of
trafficking, denying Mr. Krieger the right to a trial by jury.

Mr. Krieger, who uses marijuana to cope with multiple sclerosis, has
said he shares his supply of the drug, but only with people in medical need.

"Any jury that is representative of Canadians can be expected to
accept the general principle that an individual should be able to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes," says Mr. Bibby.

"We simply do not have significant variations by almost any variable,
starting with age, gender, and even religious service attendance."

In 1975, 26 per cent of Canadians supported the legalization of
marijuana; 40 per cent of those aged 18 to 34, 19 per cent of those
aged 35 to 54 and 14 per cent of those age 55 or older.

In 2005, 45 per cent supported such a change; 48 per cent of those
aged 18 to 34, 48 per cent of those aged 35 to 54, and 38 per cent of
those age 55 or older. And Mr. Bibby reports Canadians today are more
accepting of marijuana than those figures imply.

"Large numbers of Canadians -- rightly or wrongly -- do not believe
its legalization would be detrimental to individuals or society,
based in part on their personal experiences with pot," he says.

"If people think it can further help people medically, then
relatively few .. feel there is any reason to ban it, anymore than we
ban a drug such as morphine."

National figures are considered accurate within three percentage
points, 19 times out of 20.