Backing for California law on medical pot climbs in poll | Sacramento Bee

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Backing for law on medical pot climbs in poll

By Alexa H. Bluth -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Friday, January 30, 2004

Californians' views about the use of medical marijuana have relaxed dramatically since voters agreed to legalize the drug for ill patients in this state eight years ago, a new statewide survey found.

Now three in four voters, cutting across political, religious and generational spectrums, believe that 1996's largely stalled medical marijuana proposition should be enforced, according to a Field Poll released today.

That is a far greater percentage than cast ballots in favor of Proposition 215, which is supposed to exempt from criminal charges patients or caregivers with a doctor's prescription to possess or cultivate marijuana. The law passed with 56 percent approval.

The law has largely stalled because federal authorities refuse to recognize it in California and continue to enforce federal marijuana laws even in medical cases.

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