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Poll: Overwhelming Support For Medical Marijuana In Florida
July 29, 2014
Young and old Floridians overwhelmingly support letting sick patients get high for medical reasons, according to the latest poll on the issue, but getting voters to put medical marijuana into the state constitution is still not a guarantee.
A poll released Monday found that almost 90 percent of Florida voters want doctors to be able to order marijuana for patients. The poll by Quinnipiac University found widespread support for medical marijuana. Eighty-eight percent of Florida voters — including 83 percent of voters age 65 and older and 95 percent of those between 18 and 29 — approve of medical marijuana
“Even though a proposal to legalize medical marijuana, on the ballot this November, must meet a 60 percent threshold, these numbers make a strong bet the referendum is likely to pass,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a prepared statement accompanying the results.
But even supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment acknowledged that the poll results may overestimate Floridians’ support.
“The poll is just another demonstration that support for this is broad,” said Ben Pollara, executive director of United We Care, the group responsible for getting the proposal on the November ballot and working to get it passed.
The poll shows “that the vast majority of Floridians support the general concept of medical marijuana,” Pollara said.
Critics of the proposal, who’ve pumped at least $3 million into efforts to kill it and are prepared to spend more, blasted the semantics of the poll, as well as its findings. The proposal that will appear before voters in November, bankrolled by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, would allow doctors to decide whether patients who have debilitating medical conditions could receive medical marijuana. Doctors could not “prescribe” the substance, which would be distributed by state-licensed operators.
“This poll has been, and continues to be, a complete outlier in support of medical marijuana because it asks a question that won’t be on the ballot. Amendment 2 doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription,” said Sarah Bascom, spokeswoman for the “Vote No on 2″ campaign.
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, which frequently conducts polls in Florida and other states, found bipartisan support for legalizing medical marijuana, with an 80-19 percent split among Republicans — whose level of support was the lowest of any subgroup.
“Forget the stereotypes of stodgy old folks living out their golden years playing canasta and golf,” Brown said. “Almost nine in 10 Floridians favor legalizing medical marijuana and a small majority says adults should be able to possess small amounts of the drug for recreational purposes.”
The groundswell of support, mirrored in other polls, gave cause for cheer to backers of the proposed constitutional amendment. Experts estimate that both campaigns might spend up to $20 million on the issue.
“This poll clearly shows that the disingenuous arguments being put forth by organizations like Drug Free Florida and the Florida Sheriffs Association are not fooling Florida’s voters,” Pollara said. “Floridians understand this is an issue of compassion, and they are ready to put these kinds of health care decisions where they belong: in the hands of patients and their doctors, not politicians.”
Opponents are likely to rely on polling showing weakened support for the issue when linked to adolescents’ use of medical marijuana.
GOP legislative leaders and other Republicans who oppose legalization of medical marijuana signed off this spring on a form of marijuana that purportedly does not get users high but is believed to relieve seizures in children with a rare form of epilepsy. The Department of Health is in the process of creating rules for the new law, which authorizes strains of marijuana that are low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD. The law also allows patients who suffer from severe muscle spasms or cancer to be put on a “compassionate use registry” for the low-THC product as long as their doctors approve.
Under the law, doctors who order the substance for their patients must also file their treatment plans with the University of Florida pharmacy school. The university would also be eligible for $1 million in grants to study the efficacy of the low-THC treatment for children with severe forms of epilepsy.
But university officials say that participating in that research could cost them millions more in federal grants for other programs.
“Federal law prohibits possession, cultivation, manufacturing and distribution of marijuana. Violating federal law threatens the federal funding UF receives. As a state agency, UF is required to comply with the law. An outside counsel review of the laws reached the same conclusion,” University of Florida spokeswoman Janine Sikes said Monday.
The university may in the future find a researcher who could evaluate the effectiveness of the low-THC, Sikes said in an e-mail.
That research would only pertain to “outcomes measurement of patient care — not a drug or plant study,” Sikes said.
Rep. Katie Edwards, a Plantation Democrat who has gathered reams of research on the topic and was instrumental in passage of the low-THC legislation, had hoped that the University of Florida would be the conduit into the state for medical marijuana. She said she was disappointed in the university’s position but remained hopeful “that another entity that fits the criteria laid out in the statute will step up and assist the many patients who are desperately seeking this treatment.”
The Department of Health is holding a second rule-making workshop on the low-THC issue Friday in Tallahassee.
Edwards, like others, remains concerned that federal laws making marijuana illegal could pose problems getting the substance into the state to kick-start the low-THC program.
“Very quietly,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican lawyer who sponsored the legislation, said at the last rule-making workshop when asked how authorized growers will obtain seeds or plants. “But I know a few parents of children with intractable epilepsy who will be happy to go get it for you.”
But Edwards, also a lawyer, indicated that the state needs to come up with a better plan.
“I would never counsel a client to break the law and turn a blind eye,” Edwards. “That’s why I’m trying to find a solution that will work.
The poll released Monday also showed that Florida voters support allowing recreational marijuana by a 55 percent to 41 percent margin, but men and women are split on the issue, the poll found. Men support allowing Floridians “to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use” by 61 percent to 36 percent while women are more skeptical, with 49 percent approving and 45 percent opposed. Young voters support the idea by a 72 percent to 25 percent margin, while voters 65 and older are opposed by a margin of 59 percent to 36 percent.
Seventy-one percent of voters also would support having a medical marijuana dispensary in the town where they live. The lowest level of support for having a dispensary in their neighborhoods comes from voters over age 65, with 57 percent in favor and 37 percent opposed.
“No ‘Not in My Backyard’ mentality here. By an almost 3-to-1 majority, Florida voters would allow a medical marijuana dispensary near where they live,” Brown said.
And the poll found that 44 percent of Florida voters say they have tried pot, including 51 percent of men, 39 percent of women and 48 percent of voters ages 18 to 29. Just 23 percent of voters over 65 say they’ve tried marijuana.
The poll was conducted from July 17 to July 21. It surveyed 1,251 registered Florida voters with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
by Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Comments
19 Responses to “Poll: Overwhelming Support For Medical Marijuana In Florida”
I SUPPORT MEDICAL
was paralized when 24 /got off all RX drugs/ took almost a year to walk well again… smoked for 18 years… worked 2-3 jobs for that period…
when they passed a law that law would take everything you own… i threw it out of window and stopped went to legal medicine, a year to the day almost… started having problems with back again… went to over 80 doctors in the last years… till 2009… after they almost killed me o d ing me… twice with MORPHINE PUMP… being put on disabiltiy… now i have bended knees/ hip problems / insides rotted out./ no teeth… etc… due to making me a junky for morphine… after second time of almost dying from this… in 2009 finally found a doctor from Andrews Institute that took out morphine pump and i worked my self off of morphine in THREE WEEKS… now i have nothing but hell… so PLEASE PLEASE… PASS MEDICAL — IT WORKS… thank you… longing to be without pain once again… it is a pain killer… a muscle relaxer… it has too many benefits… GOD MADE- not man made RX… etc etc… will NOT kill you… I changed doctors and have not been back to a doctor since 2009… thank you… Sincerely Carolyn A. Ruckman, Pensacola FL
This is clearly a healthcare issue and not a criminal justice issue. I understand that there are many people who are rightfully concerned about the abuse of this substance, but I have to say that there is already an abundant amount of abuse from many other substances that are completely legal. People would be wise to do research for themselves and ponder the effects of both alcohol and pharmaceuticals. I don’t see a difference between this and alcohol. Especially, when one considers the amount of deaths and violence from the aforementioned. Pot is not the culprit behind mass waves of crime. Actually, when considered, many of the true elicit drugs were invented/manufactured by scientists and doctors to treat ailments and addictions. It is just my opinion, but I feel the argument against any use of marijuana is inconsistent with what is currently mainstreaming. Potential for abuse=food, guns, alcohol, opiates, aerosol, caffeine, tobacco, shopping, hoarding, exercising, and etc. Overdose=Non existent (even if 1000 people died tomorrow directly from it, which wouldn’t happen, the numbers still do not compare with say tobacco). If you choose not to use it, fine, but please let us not tell other tax paying Americans how to live their life. Smaller government, remember. Also, maybe the state might benefit from an unfatigued court/prison system.
CONSIDERING:
“The only reason there is so much support is because everyone that illegally uses it thinks it will be easier to continue to do so.”
Assuming they are also registered voters?
Regardless, they are probably right.
Nonetheless, surely some support comes from those who believe the substance can relieve pain and suffering and there may be some who figure it is none of their business as long as it doesn’t harm or endanger others.
If it DOES harm or endanger others, that would be a separate question just as getting drunk is frowned upon but allowed, whereas getting drunk and driving is prosecuted.
Some opposition may be coming from those knowing they will lose customers if folks know they can get safer and cheaper dope from other sources.
(Makers of aspirin never encourage others to use Tylenol.)
Most likely, the difference between those who favor legalization for recreational usage and those who favor legalization for medicinal usage is the people who are thinking of it for relief of pain and suffering. And the ones who oppose it regardless are the ones who don’t believe it works or don’t care if people suffer needlessly.
As a proper Baptist, I’m not going to use in either instance, of course, but that’s the difference between thinking something shouldn’t be done and thinking we should tell others they CAN’T do it lest they enjoy themselves.
David for care for others
Seems to me a couple of people here are still eatting up the propaganda that has kept this plant from being used as the medicine it has to the potential to be. I for one am sick of the lies that has been spread by lawenforcement in order to keep the inflated budgets from being cut.
When are people going to realize that prohibition fuels crime and causes more harm than legalization. History has consistantly shown that prohibition does not work, it only makes things worse.
The only reason there is so much support is because everyone that illegally uses it thinks it will be easier to continue to do so.
Paratus should be mad about all the people that are hooked on heroin that the doctors gave them. Now that those pills are so expensive, people are switching to street heroin. Paratus should be quiet for a while.
Since I don’t have a degree in statistical research, an interesting website for calculating margin of error with 95% certainty, given a population size and sample size can be found at:
http://americanresearchgroup.com/moe.html
Plugging in 11000000 (eleven million registered voters) and 1251 (the number of people randomly polled) gives 2.77% margin of error.
So give or take that percent, that is the expected range for the entire population of registered voters.
Just for the fun of it, plugging in a random sample of only 100 yields a margin of error of 9.8 so if only 100 were randomly sampled and if the percentage was the same, the actual answer even in that small sample could range as high as 97.8% (most unlikely) and as low as 78.2% (still far above 60% required for passage).
Running the polling size up to 100,000 — as No Excuses with a degree in statistical research suggested — would drop the margin of error down to 0.31%. Thus, this vastly greater polling would only reduce the margin of error with 95% confidence level from 2.77% down to 0.31%. If the result were closer to 60%, that would make sense, but from 88% it would not make sense to spend 80 times as much money for such a small decrease in margin of error.
Methodology might be questioned, but sample size seems sufficient.
David for square roots
and round pies
“If you don’t like it then don’t smoke it. Nobody is going to shove it in your face.”
Actually, the vehicle driver high on your newly legal pot will be doing exactly that when they crash into your car at 40, 50, 60+ mph. Legal pot just gives people another product and excuse to drive impaired. We already have legal alcohol and laws against alcohol impaired driving. But does that stop the vehicle manslaughter? NO. So now we add another substance/product to the list that will also be legal to use at home but will be illegal to use while driving. Yes, people are already doing this but the deaths will increase because most people won’t have the self-control. I know someone who was crashed into and injured by a driver high on pot.
Better make sure your car insurance is paid plenty for collision including hit-and-run as well as liability to the max. My car insurance just went up $142 a year when I have no tickets or accidents since 1999. They told me it’s because of increased claims and accidents in Florida. It will probably be higher next year. Thanks a lot.
55% of Florida voters want full legalization. So, that 55% voting block is a complete lock no matter what is said or done. Leaving only 5% needed to win. The Quinnipiac poll showed support at 88% YES 4 months ago back in March. After 4 months of all out assault and mud slinging from the NO side, the new current July 28th Quinnipiac poll shows support at 88% YES. The 4 month 3 Million Dollar assault had a net gain of 0%. Only 3 months left to go. The guy above trying to act like the Quinnipiac is an unknown poll must be in pain, because past results show the Quinnipiac polls to be one of the most accurate polls in America and a well known poll in past political elections. A google search of —> Quinnipiac poll will educate.
As soon as it is legal to buy for the medicinal effect then all of the citizens in the state having the desire to smoke it will suddenly contract an ailment that medical marijuana will help alleviate their pain will be heading to their doctor to obtain a prescription for it. Does this mean the people that have a job where random drug checks are conducted will suddenly be exempt from the testing because they now have a prescription. This ruling will create so much more revenue for the state but where will it be earmarked to go. It will be campaigned and lobbied as to help or go to something just like the lottery was to go to the public schools but the proceeds are all going to the people promoting it and the advertising billboards we see all across the state as if it is still new and very few have heard about it. This is just a new gimmick to make the backers of this fat and rich while allowing the users to be legally stoned out of their mind then hurt others by accidents on the road or doing crimes to obtain the money to buy the stuff. SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM.
The question was rhetorical. The population sample size is still too small to be taken seriously. I have a degree in statistical research and I know how to construct surveys and polls, as well as get a random sampling of the population. I would actually have to read the methodology of this poll to believe it or take it with a grain of salt. I don’t know that the university in question has published it’s procedures or would release them to me, if they do exist.
Thanks for educating me for free, though.
>>Who the heck is Quinnipiac University?
Quinnipiac University is a college with a polling institute in Connecticut. Their polling service is used by media nationwide, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, Fox News, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and by Florida’s largest newspapers. They are considered among the nation’s most accurate political pollsters.
No Excuses,
They said they polled 1,251 registered Florida voters.
(There are about eleven million registered voters. It would be silly to poll the ones who won’t bother to register to vote. An even more representative question might include “Did you vote last time?” And ignore those who didn’t. Regardless, if you pick randomly, you are just as apt to pick one as any of the other 11,000,000.)
If they picked them randomly, there is no reason to assume they weren’t a representative sample, especially if 1,100 of those asked answered the same way.
If you picked randomly, even polling a hundred would give you a fair answer.
If their polling was non-random, it wasn’t really a poll.
Come November we will know if they faked their data or skewed it with questions unlike what will be on the ballot.
We shall see.
David for truth through statistics
2009 a Dr told me I would blind in a year my vision has gotten worse but I can still read this article some what, what right do you have to interfere with how I treat myself. Get the F__k out of my way.
Keep your shirt on Paratus, people who want to smoke pot can procure it just as easily from the private markets as they can from an outlet with a physician’s prescription.
It is ok for people to consume alcohol or nicotine, but if they want to consume cannabis they are a pariah and threat to everything. It is mind boggling how you can say this molecule chain is ok and that one is bad, especially when studies and common sense show that pot is far safer than alcohol.
The milky way will not stop spinning just because people smoke pot. The tax revenue will not hurt the hopeless deficit and the bootleg market will dry up.
A better quality product will be provided access by consumers.
If you don’t like it then don’t smoke it. Nobody is going to shove it in your face.
I guess we can wait on what the voters do and never mind the polls..
I agree with Paratus – would that be CG by the way? The potential for abuse is much wider than the benefits gained. I think sick people should get it, but only after everything else has been tried and failed. Who the heck is Quinnipiac University? To draw conclusions from such a small sample of the population is ludicrous. They need at least 100,000 before even trying to do such a thing!
@paratus.. Your post has no facts.. Just assumptions.. I do think so
Medical marijuana is a joke. It may be pain relief for a handful but it is dispensed to a multitude that have no pain and no legal right to marijuana. The same doctors that dispense prescriptions to addicts will write an Rx for a hemp high. You might not even have to see the doctor/pusher. Just bring cash.
What a disappointment to see this bogus “study” published as if it were in the least part valid. A virtually unknown Quinnipiac University in Connecticut polls 1,251 registered Florida voters and concludes that “88% of Florida voters approve of medical marijuana.” Where was the poll held? On the FSU campus? Do the 1,251 speak for the 19.32 million Floridians (2012 population)? I don’t think so!