New poll indicates large Ohio majority wants medical marijuana to be a (state?) constitutional right

This new local article, headlined “Ohio voters support medical marijuana amendment, poll finds,” reports on a new poll of Ohioans that asked a distinctive — and perhaps distinctively confusing — question about their views on medical marijuana reform.  Specifically, here is the question Public Policy Poling asked of Ohioians last week as reported in this “Ohio Survey Results” document:

In thinking about medical marijuana, do you favor or oppose making it a constitutional right for patients with terminal or debilitating medical conditions to possess and consume marijuana if their doctors recommend it?

Here are the basic results of this poll as reported in this press article, along with who sponsored it and the marijuana reform context in Ohio:

Nearly three out of four Ohioans said access to marijuana for certain medical conditions should be a constitutional right, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Monday. The survey was commissioned by national group Marijuana Policy Project, which plans to put a medical-only amendment on the November ballot in Ohio.

Specifically, the poll asked if voters favor or oppose “making it a constitutional right for patients with terminal or debilitating medical conditions to possess and consume marijuana if their doctors recommend it.” The poll did not ask about specific amendment language, which has not been publicly released. Public Policy Polling surveyed 672 Ohio voters Feb. 17-18. The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

Wide support was seen in every demographic group — race, age, political party, and gender.

• Gender: Women 75 percent, men 73 percent
• Party: Democrat, 85 percent; Republican, 69 percent; independent, 62 percent
• Race: White, 76 percent; African-American, 71 percent; other, 54 percent
• Age: 18-29, 76 percent; 30-45, 71 percent; 46-65, 80 percent; older than 65, 64 percent

Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mason Tvert said the results weren’t surprising. “It’s become pretty common knowledge that marijuana can be incredibly beneficial in the treatment of a variety of medical conditions,” Tvert said. “There are few laws still on the books that are as unpopular as those that prohibit sick and dying people from accessing medical marijuana.”

The D.C.-based organization has had a hand in crafting most state marijuana decriminalization and legalization laws in the past two decades.  Tvert said the organization is confident most Ohioans will support its initiative, which he said will be different from Issue 3, last year’s failed recreational marijuana measure.

Several independent polls conducted last year showed as many as nine in 10 Ohio voters favored legal medical marijuana use, but only a slim majority of Ohioans supported legalizing recreational use.  Support dropped below 50 percent when voters were asked about Issue 3 specifics including the measure’s “monopoly” on commercial growers.

I would guess that Marijuana Policy Project sponsored this poll’s distinctive question because it is trying to decide whether it should seek to move forward in Ohio with a reform initiative that proposed a change to the Ohio Constitution or instead just sought to change Ohio’s statutory provisions. One forceful criticism of the marijuana legalization initiative roundly rejected by voters last year was that, as a proposed constitutional amendment, it would lock a specific business structure for marijuana reform into the state’s Constitution and would be hard to modify by the Ohio legislature in the years ahead.

I suspect MPP will look at this poll as evidence that a strong majority of Ohio voters are comfortable with a medical marijuana reform initiative in the form of a state constitutional amendment. But, because a number of members of the Ohio legislatures are busy considering statutory reforms, I also suspect that any coming marijuana reform campaign will also include dispute and debate over whether a state constitutional amendment is the best way to end marijuana prohibition in the state.