New York Governor Andrew Cuomo offered some very tentative acceptance of medical marijuana in his State of the State address last month, with a proposal for 20 hospitals to distribute the drug as a trial. But if a poll published Monday by Quinnipiac University is any reflection on actual opinions in the state, he’s moving much, much too slowly for most New Yorkers’ tastes. The poll found that 88 percent of New York State voters favored the legalization of medical marijuana, while 9 percent opposed it. Support for medical pot was in the 80s for every gender, age, and political party surveyed.
On an issue whose support usually skews young and liberal, 82 percent of Republicans surveyed said they would support medical pot, compared with 93 percent of Democrats. Eighty-nine percent of those aged 50 to 64 said they supported it, and 86 percent of those older than 65 approved. And 90 percent of women polled said they supported medical pot, while 86 percent of men did.
Quinnipiac’s surveyors polled 1,488 state voters, with a margin of error of 2.5 percent. Support for the drug was more mixed on questions other than allowing it for medical use. Of those respondents, 57 percent said they would support recreational pot, and 46 percent admitted trying marijuana themselves. So while we’re not a majority-pothead state according to this poll, we are definitely in favor of prescription pot for sick people.
