(National organization for the reform of marijuana laws/NORML)

CALIFORNIA POLLS SHOW VOTERS STRONGLY FAVOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE

September 19, 1996, California:Two separate California polls released today indicate that voters strongly favor Proposition 215, a statewide initiative that would allow patients with a physician's recommendation to posses and cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.

According the results of a Field Poll reported by the San Jose' Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle, among those likely to vote, 62 percent said they would vote for Proposition 215 and 29 percent said they would vote against; nine percent were undecided. Among all registered California voters, 61 percent favor the measure and 30 percent are opposed. The survey of 291 respondents has margin of error of six percentage points.

In a separate telephone poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times, 53 percent of respondents said they would vote for the proposal and 31 percent

said they would vote against; 16 percent were undecided.

"This is overwhelming support" said Steve Hopcraft of Californians for Medical Rights. "California voters cannot accept that their doctors can prescribe morphine for cancer, AIDS, and other (serious illnesses) but not

marijuana. This is great news."

"These findings, coupled with the results of similar polls conducted both in California and nationally , demonstrate that there is ample support for the legalization of medical marijuana among the voting public," sai NORML Deputy Director Allen St.Pierre.

The results of the two recent California polls are the latest in a series of surveys indicating strong support for medical marijuana. A

1995 survey conducted by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demonstrated that 83 percent of the American pubblic agreed that patients who find marijuana an effective therapeutic agent should be able to use it legally.

In addition, nine state polls have shown that a strong majority of Californians support medical marijuana.