Poll: Support for Medical Marijuana in Iowa Slipping

A new Des Moines Register poll finds that most Iowans think marijuana should be legal, but support for legalization is slipping.

The Iowa Poll on medical marijuana was conducted Feb. 3-6 and included 802 Iowa adults.

The survey found that 58 percent of Iowa adults support legalizing medical marijuana. That’s down 6 percentage points from a similar poll question posed in 2010. Only 29 percent of Iowans support allowing recreational use of the drug, up a point from three years ago.

Iowa lawmakers are pushing two-marijuana themed bills, one for medical use and one for recreational use, but neither are expected to pass.

Readers sounded off last time we wrote about marijuana legalization:

Proud UNI Grad

There are many "do it if it feels good" people in our society right now that are pushing an agenda that will bite us all down the road. The vets with PTSD or the cancer patients are one thing, and I feel for their situation deeply. If they can gain some relief then we need to explore their situation. But the "pot-heads" and the FlyingtooLow crowd that just want be able to get loaded 7 days a week without risk of prosecution, or that want to profit off of this drug, I have no time for.

In addition to the Washington and California votes to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes last year, Massachusetts became the 18th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana has been pushed in Iowa in the past, including bills in 2011 and 2012 after the Iowa Pharmacy Board said marijuana had medical uses and recommended legalization. The board has pushed it to the legislature to decide. The bill gained some support but never made it to a vote.

Read more:

Readers Sound Off on Medical Marijuana in Iowa

Patch Poll: Marijuana Legalization in Iowa – Must Everybody Get Stoned?