NEW YORKERS ARE HIGH ON LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

ALBANY -- Seventy-one percent of New Yorkers support making medical
marijuana legal in the state, while voters have fizzled on a plan to tax
soda and sugary drinks, a Quinnipiac Poll found Thursday.

Fourteen states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, but while
the measure has passed in the New York Assembly, it has not passed in the
state Senate.

The proposal is supported in New York across political, racial and
regional groups, Quinnipiac reported. Fifty-five percent of Republicans
support it, compared to 78 percent of Democrats.

"It hasn't attracted a lot of attention, but New York state voters would
like to emulate their New Jersey neighbors and approve medical use of
marijuana," said Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll.

New Yorkers opposed 57 percent to 40 percent the so-called "obesity tax"
proposal by Gov. David Paterson to add a tax on sugary beverages. A year
ago, Quinnipiac found that 64 percent of voters were opposed to the idea,
and Paterson ultimately dropped the idea.

New York City voters oppose the measure 50 percent to 47 percent, but
opposition is stronger among suburban and upstate voters. Sixty-two
percent of upstate voters opposed the idea.

Some groups in favor of the proposal said the poll was unfair because it
uses the words "obesity tax" or "fat tax" in the questioning. They said
polls by advocacy groups showed a majority of people support the tax if
the money is used to avoid health-care cuts and to fund obesity-prevention
programs.

"Using inflammatory phrasing such as the 'obesity tax' or 'fat tax' in the
survey question puts the polling results in doubt," said Nancy
Huehnergarth, director of the state Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
Alliance.

"If Quinnipiac would have used more neutral phrasing such as
sugar-sweetened beverage tax, soda tax or soft drink tax, we believe the
results would have been quite different."