Poll: Support for medical marijuana grows in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowans are warming to the idea of legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but most of them still don't want to make it legal for recreational use, a new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows.

According to the poll, 70% of Iowa adults say they favor legalizing the drug for medical uses, the poll finds. That's up from 59% a year ago and 58% two years ago. However, just 30% of Iowa adults favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use, a level that is essentially unchanged from the past two years.

Iowa legislators last spring passed a limited medical-cannabis bill that would allow possession of a special marijuana extract for people with severe epilepsy. Legislators were persuaded to approve the proposal after parents repeatedly brought their disabled children to the Statehouse to lobby for the right to try the oil to treat seizures.

Patient advocates have called the new law useless, because it doesn't provide for distribution of the medication. They're pushing to broaden the law, to allow people to obtain marijuana products to treat epilepsy and a range of other issues, including cancer, Crohn's disease, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The advocates say Iowa should join the 23 states that have effective medical marijuana laws. But opponents, including Gov. Terry Branstad, say Iowa should give its new limited law more time to work.

The poll of 807 Iowans was conducted Feb. 15-18 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Maria La France, a leader of Iowa's medical-marijuana movement, said she was glad to hear the Iowa Poll had found growing support. The Des Moines resident has brought her 13-year-old son, Quincy, to the Statehouse to help lobby for legalization of the marijuana extract the family wants to use to treat his severe epileptic seizures.

La France said even before she heard about the new poll results, she felt public opinion shifting on the issue. People increasingly understand that there can be productive uses of marijuana products that don't lead to more drug abuse, she said.

"It's popular in the state. It just doesn't seem as popular under the gold dome," she said. She said many rank-and-file legislators, including Republican representatives, have told her they support expanding the law. But Republican House leaders and the governor have resisted, she said.

La France's son has been accepted into an international study of a pharmaceutical version of cannabis oil. He soon should start receiving legal doses via the University of Iowa, so he doesn't need an expanded state law. But other patients do, La France said. She believes that as public opinion continues to shift, the state will legalize medical uses of marijuana for many chronic health problems.

"It's just a matter of time," she said.