TEXANS SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA, POLL SAYS

Three in four favor legalizing pot for the seriously ill, if doctor agrees.

An overwhelming majority of Texans say seriously ill people should be
allowed to use marijuana for medical reasons, according to a recent poll.

The Scripps Howard Texas Poll of 900 randomly selected Texas adults found
that 75 percent said they would favor legislation that would let people
with cancer and other major illnesses use marijuana, as long as their
doctors agreed. Nineteen percent of those quizzed last month opposed the
idea, and 6 percent either didn't know or declined to say.

Texans for Medical Marijuana, an advocacy group formed in January, expected
a majority to answer favorably, but it was "pleasantly surprised" by the
avalanche of support, Executive Director Noelle Davis said.

"This goes beyond party lines," Davis said. "Everyone wants their loved
ones to be comfortable when they're suffering."

The telephone poll showed that Texans supported medical marijuana use
regardless of age, income, ethnicity, race, education and gender. Some
regions of the state were more supportive than others, with East Texas
favoring it the least, at 62 percent, and Central Texas the most, with 83
percent supporting medical marijuana use. Republicans also were less
enthusiastic, with 67 percent favoring it, compared with 81 percent of
Democratic respondents and 82 percent of independents.

Adults ages 18 to 29 favored it the most, at 81 percent, while those in the
40- to 49-year-old group favored it the least, at 70 percent. Seventy-two
percent of those 60 and older favored it.

The poll, which had only one question on marijuana use proposed by Texans
for Medical Marijuana, had a sampling error of 3.3 percentage points,
meaning results can be off by that much in either direction. It was part of
a larger Texas Poll conducted between Oct. 11 and 28.

"If they're going to keep us alive, they ought to make us comfortable,"
said Marcia Baker, 40, of Sugar Land.

Baker said she was surprised how supportive her parents -- "Ward and June
Cleaver" -- are of her regular marijuana use to combat the tremors, pain
and spasticity of severe multiple sclerosis, an illness she has been
battling since her 20s.

"Medical marijuana is becoming a family secret," she said.

Marijuana relaxes her and eases her pain, while still leaving her able to
function, she said. She was "numb mentally" and unable to stay awake with
the large doses of medicine she had been on, she said.

She either smokes the marijuana or makes brownies out of it, she said.

Many doctors don't want to recommend marijuana, not just because it's
illegal, but because they have not embraced it the way families have, Baker
said.

Dr. Richard Evans, president of the Texas Cancer Center in Houston, is not
one of those doctors. As a medical adviser to Texans for Medical Marijuana,
a nonprofit group that educates cancer patients, he would recommend pot to
his cancer patients if it were legal, he said.

Marijuana has been known to ease nausea from chemotherapy, eye pressure
from glaucoma and muscle spasms from neurological disorders, Evans said. It
also stimulates appetite in the sick, he said.

Evans has testified about marijuana's benefits before legislative
committees, but so far, no bills have passed either house.

Davis said she was confident her organization would get a sponsor for the
upcoming session, which starts in January. However, the group has been
turned down because some lawmakers worry the issue is too unpopular.

Davis is optimistic the poll will change that. "We hope for strong
bipartisan support and the poll shows Texans support this."

She pointed out that Montana, which backed President Bush in the
presidential election Nov. 2, also voted to legalize the use of medical
marijuana.

Other states where it is legal are California, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii,
Colorado, Maine, Vermont, Oregon and Washington, said Karen Heikkala, a
spokeswoman for Texans for Medical Marijuana.

The legislatures in Vermont and Hawaii approved the laws there, while the
other states approved the marijuana use by voter initiative, Heikkala said.