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Texas voters strongly support legalizing medical marijuana yet are largely unaware of their own state’s existing program that provides limited access to cannabis for certain patients, according to a new poll.
The survey by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, which served as the chief pollster for President Donald Trump’s campaigns, found that 75 percent of Texas registered voters favor “legalized marijuana in Texas for medical use”—including 85 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of independents.
“Medical marijuana is very popular with Texas voters—not only do 3-in-4 voters support its use but majorities of each partisan group also support legalized medical marijuana,” the firm wrote in a polling memo.
That said, only 11 percent of respondents said they have recently seen, read or heard anything about the Texas Compassionate Use Program (TCUP), which provides legal access to low-THC medical cannabis products for patients with a limited number of conditions and which lawmakers passed legislation to modestly expand last session.
When told more about the program, three out of five voters say they are concerns about “delays and obstacles have slowed the expansion” of TCUP, which has resulted in “limiting access for patients who may benefit from medical marijuana.” That includes majorities of Democrats and independents and a bare plurality of Republicans.
In response to a separate question, fifty-seven percent of voters agreed that “state leaders have moved too slowly in expanding and improving” the medical marijuana program—again with most Democrats and independents on board as well as a plurality of GOP voters.
Earlier this month, Texas officials conditionally approved more new medical marijuana business licenses as part of a law that’s being implemented to expand the state’s cannabis program.
In addition to increasing the number of dispensaries in the state, the law signed by Gov. Greg Abbbott (R) last year also expands the state’s list of medical marijuana qualifying conditions to include chronic pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, while also allowing end-of-life patients in palliative or hospice care to use marijuana.
When respondents were informed of the recent enactment the law to expand access, 62 percent said they favored the program—with majority support across party lines.
The poll also found that voters are generally more likely to support lawmakers who support increasing medical marijuana access for patients and to have less favorable opinions of officials who are “dragging their feet and trying to stall the implementation” of the expanded program.
“Registered voters in Texas support legalized marijuana for medical use and are virtually unaware of the state’s program for medical marijuana,” the polling memo says in a summary of the results. “For this reason, voters are supportive of TCUP after learning the program was expanded to certain qualifying conditions. Voters are concerned about delays or obstructions to TCUP and believe the implementation of the decade-old program has been too slow.”
“Voters are more likely to support their legislator who supported expanding TCUP and are less likely to favor legislative leaders or the Governor’s agencies if they slow roll the implementation of TCUP,” it says,
The poll involved interviews with 1,000 registered voters from April 1-2 and has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.
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The TCUP expansion and new poll results come as Texas officials are moving to implement new restrictions on hemp products, including a ban on THCA smokable hemp flowers that took effect last month but was later temporarily paused by a judge amid a legal challenge from the hemp industry.
Last month, Texas voters approved a marijuana legalization question that appeared on the state’s Democratic primary ballot.
A statewide poll released in February found that Texas voters don’t like how state leaders and lawmakers have handled marijuana and THC policy issues. In the survey, a plurality of voters (40 percent) said they disapprove of how their elected officials have approached the issue, according to the survey. Just 29 percent said they approve of how cannabis issues have been handled, while 31 percent said they didn’t have an opinion one way or another.
A separate poll released last year found that a plurality of Texas voters want the state’s marijuana laws to be made “less strict.” And among the legislative items lawmakers considered during recent special sessions, voters say a proposal to address hemp regulations was among the least important.
Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor and House speaker announced last month that the state will proceed with its own ibogaine research program after no drug companies submitted proposals meeting requirements and standards to receive state funds to begin clinical trials with the psychedelic under a recently enacted law.
Read the full results of the Texas medical marijuana poll below:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28053853-texas-medical-marijuana-poll/
Image element courtesy of AnonMoos.
Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 25-year veteran in the cannabis and drug law reform movement, he covers the policy, politics, science and culture of marijuana, psychedelics and other substances. He previously reported for Forbes, Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and was given the Hunter S. Thompson Media Award by NORML and has been named Journalist of the Year by Americans for Safe Access. As an activist, Tom founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority and handled media relations, campaigns and lobbying for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
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