Marijuana Measure Has 56% Backing

Despite the national image of Orange County as a conservative bastion, a solid majority of its voters favor a statewide ballot measure that would legalize the medical use of marijuana, according to a Times Orange County Poll.

The poll found that 56% of the county’s voters support the measure, Proposition 215, and 37% are opposed, numbers that mirror the sort of backing it enjoys in statewide polls.

“This support for Proposition 215 was a surprise,” said Mark Baldassare, who conducted the poll. “On the surface, at least, it goes against Orange County’s conservative image.”

Orange County also is home to one of the measure’s leading opponents: Sheriff Brad Gates, who is chairing the band of law enforcement organizations, politicians and anti-drug groups that are fighting to defeat Proposition 215.

Under the measure, doctors could give patients suffering from virtually any malady a written or verbal recommendation to use marijuana as a medicine to reduce their suffering. Patients or a caregiver could legally cultivate marijuana for medical use. The measure places no limits on how much could be grown, possessed or consumed.

The proposition’s backers say marijuana is effective against a wide array of medical problems, including the nausea caused by cancer chemotherapy, AIDS wasting syndrome and glaucoma.

Opponents say the measure is part of concerted push by drug-legalization advocates to trash existing drug laws and is so poorly written that it would hamstring law enforcement efforts to curb illicit use.

Chelle Nickle, who participated in the poll, reflected those sentiments. “I don’t think it can lead to anything good,” said Nickle, a 23-year-old optometry student from Fullerton. “Maybe it helps as medicine, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Foes ranging from local police to presidential drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey have expressed concern that the measure could encourage teen drug use, but a majority of Orange County voters don’t see it that way, The Times poll found.

A key to its popularity is that most voters--55%--do not believe that the passage of Proposition 215 would encourage marijuana use among teenagers and young adults.

But backers and foes are split on the question. Of voters who favor the measure, 81% believe it wouldn’t encourage teenage use. Three-quarters of the opponents believe the measure could bolster teenage use.

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Both sides, however, agree that laws prohibiting the recreational use of marijuana and other drugs should remain on the books. Of the opponents, 89% think drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin should remain illegal. A solid majority of the measure’s supporters--57%--also think that recreational drug use should remain prohibited.

“Most voters do not believe in legalizing recreational drugs,” Baldassare said. “Rather, they see it as a matter of issues such as the humane treatment of people who are very sick.”

There were exceptions. Derrel Kay is 81 and a registered Republican, but he not only supports Proposition 215 but believes all drugs should be legalized.

“I grew up in Prohibition and there is nothing that causes more trouble than prohibition,” he said. “That’s what created the Mafia and gangs. . . . It would be good to set laws on the sale of drugs and tax it. The people would get the money instead of the dope peddler.”

Contributing to this report was Times political writer Peter M. Warren.

* PROP. 209 HOLDS STRONG

Support for anti-affirmative action measure is diverse. A28

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Pot for Pain

Proposition 215, which would legalize the medical use of marijuana, has majority backing in Orange County. A key to this support is the belief that the proposition’s passage would not lead to marijuana use among children and young adults.

* If the election were today, would you vote yes or no on Proposition 215?

Yes: 56%

No: 37

Don’t know: 7

* If Proposition 215 passes, do you think this will encourage marijuana use among adolescents and young adults in California?

Yes: 39%

No: 55

Don’t know: 6

Source: Times Orange County Poll