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            Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
                          News Advisory
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Please copy and distribute.
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Lake Research conducted a nationwide poll of 1,002 
Americans between February 5-9, 1997 for The Lindesmith 
Center, a Project of the Open Society Institute.  The 
survey was fielded by International Communications 
Research as part of the Excel Poll.  The following 
memorandum comes from Lake Research:

To:    Interested Parties

From:  Celinda Lake and Dana Stanley
       Lake Research, Inc.

Date:  February 14, 1997

Re:    AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY FAVOR ALLOWING DOCTORS
       TO PRESCRIBE MARIJUANA FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES,
       OPPOSE FEDERAL INTERVENTION

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By a 2 to 1 margin, American voters favor allowing 
doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes 
for seriously or terminally ill patients (60 percent 
favor, 30 percent oppose, nine percent don't know, and 
one percent refused to answer).

Furthermore, Americans believe that doctors in states 
like Arizona and California, which have passed medical 
marijuana initiatives, should be able to prescribe 
marijuana for medical purposes, and they don't believe 
the federal government should penalize those doctors 
for prescribing marijuana (68 percent say doctors 
should be able to prescribe, 24 percent say federal 
government should penalize those doctors, two percent 
don't agree with either notion, four percent are 
unsure, and one percent refused to answer).

The questions were worded as follows and were asked in 
the following order:

a.   Should doctors be able to prescribe marijuana for
     medical purposes to seriously or terminally ill
     patients?

b.   As you may know, voters in two states recently
     passed laws allowing doctors to prescribe
     marijuana to seriously ill patients for medical
     purposes.  The federal government says that
     doctors who prescribe are violating federal law,
     and has threatened to prosecute them or suspend
     their license.  Which comes closer to your views
     [rotate order of choices]: doctors should be
     able to prescribe marijuana for medical uses in
     states where it is allowed by law, or the federal
     government should penalize doctors who prescribe
     marijuana, regardless of whether state law allows
     them to?

Questions about this survey can be directed to: Ethan 
Nadelmann, Director, The Lindesmith Center, 888 Seventh 
Ave., New York, NY 10106, 212/887-0695, or Celinda Lake 
or Dana Stanley, Lake Research, 202/776-9066.

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TANSTAAFL
Columbus, OH
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