Poll: Three in four Utahns support legalizing medical marijuana

Tuesday Twofer Special, Part One: Taking the pulse of a supportive Utah public.

The latest poll on legalizing medical cannabis in Utah adds another marker to a string of surveys by different independent pollsters, now going back years, and all showing strong – and growing – support.

What’s new is that rather than asking about the concept in general, in this case voters were asked about the proposed Utah ballot initiative in particular, and the results were virtually identical.

Excerpt:

“Utahns continue to show broad support for a proposed 2018 ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in the state, according to a new poll by The Salt Lake Tribune and the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics.

The new survey finds 75 percent of Utah voters either strongly or somewhat support the proposed initiative, all but mirroring a July poll that had 77 percent of voters backing legalized medical marijuana.

The latest poll found that some 93 percent of the state’s Democrats support legalization, compared to a smaller majority of Republicans — 65 percent — who also back the idea.

…’Things are trending in the right direction,’ said D.j. Schanz, executive director of the Utah Patients Coalition, the group organizing the ballot initiative.

‘It’s a positive change in our state and across the country. We’re seeing such a positive [stance toward medical marijuana],” said Christine Stenquist, president of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE).

…About 1,000 volunteers are working to collect more than 113,000 signatures from voters, which are due to the state by April 15. Schanz said the organization is roughly a third of the way to meeting the signature requirement.”

There’s much more in the article including a discussion of how despite these trends in public opinion, if the initiative indeed qualifies for the 2018 ballot, a strongly negative campaign and the positions taken by powerful interests could still make for a close, hard to predict outcome, so activists are advised to do anything except take current support levels for granted.

Still, we see the results as good news for prospective patients in the state.

#MMJ #Polls #UPC #UTpol #UtahNext #LetsDoThis #TRUCE

http://ift.tt/2y13K9m    

See full article – Poll: Three in four Utahns support legalizing medical marijuana