POLL: 80 PERCENT FAVOR MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

MADISON -- Eighty per cent of Wisconsin residents support legalizing
marijuana for medical use, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The poll was commissioned by Is My Medicine Legal Yet?, a group that
supports the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The polling was done by the Chamberlain Research Consultants. It randomly
selected 600 people age 18 and older in all 72 Wisconsin counties in its
telephone poll. The poll was conducted Jan. 28-Feb. 7.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.97 percent.

Respondents were asked if they would support or oppose the Legislature
passing a bill that allows the terminally or serious ill to use marijuana
for medical purposes.

The poll found that 80.3 per cent of respondents said they supported
passing such a bill, while 16 percent said no and 3.7 percent were undecided.

Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Frank Boyle, D-Superior, introduced a bill
in January that would allow the use of marijuana for med ical purposes. The
bill was referred to the Criminal Jus tice Committee but has not come up
for a vote.

Similar bills introduced in past legislative sessions have failed to pass.

The poll found a majority of respondents in all regions of Wisconsin
supported the use of medical marijuana, though support was highest in Dane
County, where 91.7 per cent of respondents said yes.

The lowest percentage of support was in the northwest, where 70.7 percent
said they supported legalizing the med ical use of marijuana.