Analysis by voting intention - While social attitudes frequently vary depending on an
individual’s political preference, the issue of medicinal marijuana is not one of them. Support
for legalisation is similarly strong among Australians intending to vote for L-NP (92%) in the
next federal election and those planning to vote for the ALP (94%), and almost unanimous
among Green voters (97%).
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:
“The results of our special telephone survey indicate an overwhelming support for legalising
the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. This bodes extremely well for the Federal
Government’s plan to legalise the growing of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
“Part of the Federal Government’s plan is to allow each state’s government to decide whether
they will allow the drug to be grown. Our results show that a vast majority of residents in each
state are in favour of legalisation: this will be of particular interest to Western Australia’s
Premier, Colin Barnett (not one of the movement’s most vocal supporters), whose state has the
strongest support (97%).
“Unlike some social issues, legalising medicinal marijuana is widely favoured by electors of
different political persuasions and age groups, which really tells us its time has come. Not
surprisingly, Australians aged 50+ are the strongest supporters, as this group is most
susceptible to several of the conditions that medicinal marijuana can provide relief from:
Parkinson’s disease, cancer, glaucoma and more. (Obviously, as the government develops the
overall framework for medicinal marijuana use, the specifics regarding who qualifies for this
kind of treatment will have to be determined.)
“It should also be noted that the special
telephone survey found that only one third of
the population believes that the smoking of
marijuana should be made legal.
This demonstrates that Australians understand
that smoking and consuming marijuana for
medicinal purposes are two very separate
issues.”
(Roy Morgan Research - Monday, 26th O