AARP POLL SHOWS MOST SUPPORT LEGALIZING MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Nearly three-fourths of Americans middle age and older support legalizing
marijuana for medical use, according to a poll taken for AARP.

More than half of those questioned said they believed marijuana has medical
benefits, while a larger majority agreed the drug is addictive.

AARP, whose 35 million members are all at least 50 years old, says it has
no political position on medical marijuana and that its local branches have
not chosen sides in the scores of state ballot initiatives on the issue in
recent elections.

But with medical marijuana at the center of a Supreme Court case to be
decided next year, and nearly a dozen states with medical marijuana laws on
their books, AARP said, it decided to study the issue.

"The use of medical marijuana applies to many older Americans who may
benefit from cannabis," said Ed Dwyer, an editor at AARP The Magazine,
which will report on the issue in its March-April issue, scheduled to
appear in late January.

Among the 1,706 adults age 45 and older who were polled in November,
opinions varied along regional and generational lines and among the 30
percent of respondents who said they had smoked marijuana. AARP members
represented 37 percent of the respondents.

Over all, 72 percent of respondents agreed "adults should be allowed to
legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it."
Those in the Northeast (79 percent) and West (82 percent) were more
receptive to the idea than in the Midwest (67 percent) and Southwest (65
percent). In Southern states, 70 percent agreed with the statement.

Seventy-four percent of all those surveyed thought marijuana is addictive.