Fact check: How many North Carolinians support medical marijuana?
A sponsor of the bill that would legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina says the effort is supported by "over 75%" of state residents. PolitiFact checks his claim.
Posted — UpdatedNorth Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana for some medical issues.
North Carolina is among a minority of states that haven’t legalized any form of marijuana.
A key state Senate committee recently gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 711, which would allow cannabis as a treatment for cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, PTSD and other comparable debilitating conditions.
Ahead of the meeting, Democratic state Sen. Wiley Nickel claimed that most North Carolinians support medicinal marijuana.
“Even though over 75% of the state supports medical marijuana we still have an uphill battle for final passage in the Republican controlled Legislature,” tweeted Nickel, who’s raising money to run for Congress.
Is support for medicinal marijuana really that high?
Not consistently.
Available polling
North Carolinians, meanwhile, haven’t been polled many times on whether medical marijuana should be legalized. While available polls show support for the issue, Nickel is slightly exaggerating their enthusiasm.
David McLennan, a political science professor who runs the Meredith College Poll, says he’s skeptical that more than 75% of North Carolinians support medicinal marijuana.
“Seems to me that North Carolinians generally favor medical marijuana being legalized,” McLennan said. “The support—at least as indicated by the four polls—suggests that support is pretty consistent and does not appear to be growing.”
Our ruling
Wiley Nickel said “over 75% of the state supports medical marijuana.”
Nickel is rounding up. Support for medical marijuana surpassed 75% in only one of the four polls we found dating back to 2015.
That said, each of the four polls show support for medicinal marijuana around 70% or higher. So he’s not far off.
His statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it Half True.
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