Tony Leys

| tleys@dmreg.com

Most Iowans support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, a new Iowa Poll shows.

But if proponents predict that Iowans soon will support allowing recreational use of the drug, you should ask what they've been smoking.

Iowans' views on the subject haven't shifted in the past year, even as marijuana legalization campaigns have gained momentum elsewhere.

A significant majority — 59 percent — of Iowa adults support making the drug legal for medical purposes, while 37 percent oppose the idea, the new poll shows. Those are about the same as findings from an Iowa Poll taken a year ago in February.

However, 69 percent of Iowans oppose legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and just 28 percent support the idea, the new poll shows. The numbers on that question were also nearly the same as a year ago.

Patricia Baldelamar, 30, of Estherville is one of many poll participants with split views on the issue. Baldelamar said she believes marijuana can help ease pain and suffering from medical conditions.

"I think if people really need it, I don't see why they shouldn't have it," she said.

But Baldelamar, a Democrat who is raising six children, doesn't want to see marijuana made legal just for people to get high. Doctors should be allowed to prescribe marijuana, she said, "but they should do a medical history and everything to see if the people really need it."

Support splits along divides of age, party

Iowans' views on the issue depend heavily on their age and political party affiliation, the poll shows.

Just 47 percent of Iowans 65 or older support legalizing medical marijuana, compared with 67 percent of those younger than 35. The split is even more dramatic on the question of legalizing recreational marijuana. Only 13 percent of Iowa seniors support that idea, but 39 percent of young adults do.

Legalizing medical marijuana draws support from 74 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of political independents, but just 46 percent of Republicans. Legalizing recreational marijuana is backed by 34 percent of Democrats, 33 percent of independents and 16 percent of Republicans.

The poll, conducted Feb. 23-26 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Ray Hoffman, 73, of Blanchard is a Republican and a staunch skeptic of marijuana. Legalizing it, he said, "is opening the gates to hell, basically."

Hoffman, who is a retired teacher, disapproves of what's happening in Colorado, which first legalized marijuana for medical purposes and then opened it up to everyone older than 21.

Hoffman is not ready to support medical marijuana, even though he said he once knew a woman who swore by it for easing migraine headaches. She believed so strongly in the benefit that she was willing to face major legal risks to continue smoking marijuana, he said.

"Back in those days, if you got caught with pot, you were headed to the hoosegow," he said.

John Botts, 35, of Des Moines is part of the minority of poll participants supporting marijuana legalization for both medical purposes and recreation.

"I don't believe it's any more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. I think it should be regulated and taxed," said Botts, a political independent who works in information technology.

Twenty states have decided to make marijuana legal for medical purposes, with some being stricter than others on the definition of who may obtain it. Two states, Colorado and Washington, voted in 2012 to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes.

Issue lacks traction in Iowa Legislature

The issue is raised every year in the Iowa Legislature, but it has failed to gain traction.

This year, Iowa lawmakers barely discussed a Senate bill that would have allowed medical marijuana sales. The bill was declared dead the day it was introduced, because its Democratic sponsors could not find a single Republican legislator who would sign on.

The legislation's most vocal proponent has been Sen. Joe Bolkcom, an Iowa City Democrat. Bolkcom said he's frustrated that Republicans controlling the House won't debate the idea of medical marijuana, even though the Iowa Poll has repeatedly shown majority support for it.

However, Bolkcom said more legislators of both parties seem willing to at least consider the idea. He does not foresee Iowa legalizing recreational marijuana. But he does predict the state someday will have a tightly regulated system allowing medical uses. Such a system would be limited to conditions for which the drug has proven benefits, the senator said.

Bolkcom said it's no surprise that Iowa is taking longer than other states to adopt such a system.

"Iowans are, I think, on balance pretty conservative and cautious," he said. "I think people are sitting back and watching how it goes" in other states.

Steve Lukan, Iowa's drug-control policy director, doubts the state will ever legalize marijuana. Lukan, a Republican and former state representative, predicts the experiments in other states will not go well. He said looser controls on marijuana will lead to more fatal car crashes and more people with drug problems.

"I think when reasonable people actually analyze the facts, people realize it's not a healthy choice and it would not be moving our state forward," he said.

Lukan noted that some towns in Colorado have decided to bar marijuana stores because of problems controlling the effects. He also pointed out that Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, has urged states to think carefully before legalizing the drug.

"I'm afraid I'm sounding like this is an evil drug that's going to ruin our civilization, and I don't really think that," Collins told USA TODAY. "But there are aspects of this that probably should be looked at more closely than some of the legalization experts are willing to admit."

National polls show support to legalize

However, national polls suggest momentum is on the side of the legalization movement. A CNN poll of 1,010 American adults in January found that 55 percent believe marijuana should be made generally legal. Fifty percent of participants said they'd tried marijuana.

Mason Tvert, national director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said poll responses vary depending on how questions are asked. For example, he said, more people tend to say they support medical marijuana if pollsters mention that such a system would have regulations.

That point could help explain why the Iowa Poll found more support for medical marijuana in 2010. In that poll, questioners told participants that the new system would allow "use of marijuana to treat medical conditions if a patient has a doctor's approval." Sixty-four percent of participants in that poll said they supported the idea. In the past two Iowa Polls, participants were simply asked if they supported legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Fifty-eight percent said yes a year ago, and 59 percent this year.

Tvert said people are more likely to think about the issue if it's being actively debated in their state. The fact that Iowa legislators aren't talking about it extensively could be part of the reason why support has remained about the same in the past two Iowa Polls, he said.

Tvert predicts that more states will soon legalize use of marijuana, at least for medical purposes.

When asked if marijuana use eventually will be legal throughout the country, he chuckled. "It depends on what your definition of 'eventually' is," he said.

About the poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted Feb. 23-26 for The Des Moines Register by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on interviews with 703 Iowans ages 18 or older. Interviewers contacted households with randomly selected landline and cellphone numbers. Responses were adjusted by age, sex, and congressional district to reflect the general population based on recent census data.

Questions based on the sample of 703 Iowa adults have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the percentages shown here by more than plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register is prohibited.