POT USE OK: POLL

58 Per Cent Of Locals Favour Legalizing Pot For Medical Purposes

It's "high" time smoking a marijuana joint is taken out of the Canadian
Criminal Code, say Lethbridge residents, but only if your doctor has
prescribed it.

According to figures from a 2001 survey carried out by Lethbridge Community
College's Citizen Society Research Lab, 58 per cent of Lethbridge residents
favour legalizing marijuana, but only for medical purposes.

As far as making pot legal for recreational use, 71 per cent are against the
idea.

Those statistics, from a random survey of almost 500 city residents of
voting age, were released Friday by LCC political scientists.

"Clearly, Lethbridge residents are distinguishing between marijuana that is
being used for medicinal purposes and that which is used recreationally,"
said Faron Ellis, LCC political scientist and administrator of the study.

Nationally, support for legalizing marijuana has risen to almost one in two
Canadians, according to survey findings from Reg Bibby, the trend-tracking
sociologist at the University of Lethbridge

Ellis cautioned that because the college's data was collected before the
release this week of a Senate committee report recommending the legalization
of marijuana, public opinion may have changed since the survey was done.

It could change further when a House of Commons committee releases its
report this fall, he said.

In the survey, 46.5 per cent of local residents said they support legalizing
marijuana for medical use while another 12.2 per cent strongly support the
idea.

The poll showed 24.6 per cent were opposed to such a move while 11.4 were
strongly opposed. The remainder, 5.3 per cent, were undecided.

Concerning the use of pot for recreational purposes, only 19.3 per cent
indicated support while another 4.1 per cent voiced strong support, compared
to 38.5 per cent who were opposed and 32.8 per cent strongly opposed.

Most of the support for legalizing marijuana came from the 18-29 age group,
with 72.5 per cent in favour of pot for medical use and 44.3 per cent
backing its recreational use. Support was lowest in the 60-69 bracket at
33.3 for medical use and 6.4 per cent for recreational use.

Support was also stronger among males, with 62.4 per cent favouring medical
use and 34.1 supporting recreational pot, compared to 55.7 and 14.8 per cent
of females backing those respective uses.

Bibby's study -- quoting results from two national surveys of adults and
young people completed in 2000 -- showed 47 per cent of Canadians now favour
legalizing the drug.

That figure is up considerably from a steady level of around 30 per cent
that persisted from the mid-1970s through the mid-'80s.

Bibby's research found support for legalizing marijuana has climbed from 26
per cent across Canada in 1975. On the Prairies, support has risen to 45 per
cent from 24 per cent.

Support is highest in B.C. at 56 per cent, followed by Ontario at 49 per
cent. It is lowest in the Maritimes, 43 per cent, and Quebec, 44 per cent.

Bibby also found that 50 per cent of the country's 15-to-19-year-olds
support legalizing marijuana. That's almost double the level of previous
decades. In addition, 37 per cent of teenagers are using marijuana, twice
the levels reported by teens in the early '80s and 1990s.

"It is clear from these findings that, for better or worse, a growing number
of Canadians of all ages simply do not see marijuana in negative terms,
viewing it probably as less harmful than cigarettes and definitely less
harmful than alcohol," said Bibby.

In addition, he said, "a growing number appear to view marijuana in positive
terms, enjoying it as a recreational drug and seeing it as having medicinal
value."