A 58% majority of voters also say they would favor allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city or town where they live.

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1 THE FIELD POLL THE INDEPENDENT AND NON-PARTISAN SURVEY OF PUBLIC OPINION ESTABLISHED IN 1947 AS THE CALIFORNIA POLL BY MERVIN FIELD Field Research Corporation 601 California Street, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA (415) FAX: (415) Release #2442 Release Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 SUPPORT LEGALIZING THE SALE OF MARIJUANA IN CALIFORNIA. STRONG BACKING FOR STATE S EXISTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW. MOST SAY THEY D ALLOW A MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY TO OPERATE IN THEIR COMMUNITY. By Mark DiCamillo and Mervin Field IMPORTANT: Contract for this service is subject to revocation if publication or broadcast takes place before release date or if contents are divulged to persons outside of subscriber staff prior to release time. (ISSN ) By a five to four margin (54% to 43%), California voters support legalizing the sale of marijuana, with age and other controls like those applicable to alcohol. This is the highest level of support for marijuana legalization since The Field Poll began measuring California public opinion on this issue in 1969, when just 13% favored its legalization. The poll finds greater than seven in ten voters (72%) backing the state s existing medical marijuana law. Two in three (67%) oppose federal government efforts to crack down on businesses attempting to sell marijuana for medicinal purposes. A 58% majority of voters also say they would favor allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city or town where they live. These are the findings from the latest Field Poll completed earlier this month about marijuana among a random sample of California registered voters. Support for legalizing marijuana at a new high A 54% to 43% majority of California voters now support legalizing the sale of marijuana, with age and other controls like those applicable to alcohol. This represents a continuing increase in the proportion of voters favoring legalization, and is the highest level of support observed by The Field Poll since it began measuring California public opinion on this issue over forty years ago. Field Research Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer

2 Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Page 2 The current results represent a slight increase in voter support for marijuana legalization compared to July That poll was conducted about four months prior to the November 2010 statewide election, which included Proposition 19, an initiative calling for marijuana legalization. At the time voters were more divided in their assessments, with 50% in favor and 46% opposed. However, by the time of the November 2010 statewide election and in the heat of a spirited campaign, voters moved narrowly to the No side, and the initiative was defeated by a 53% to 47% margin at the polls. Table 1 Trend of California public opinion among legalizing marijuana with age and other controls like those applicable to alcohol Favor its legalization 54% 50% 30% 13% Oppose its legalization No opinion Note: 1969 survey conducted among California adults. Differing views about marijuana legalization across voter subgroups Voter support for legalizing the sale of marijuana exceeds six in ten among voters in the ninecounty San Francisco Bay Area, among singles, men, and voters under age 40. On the other hand, majorities of voters age 65 or older, Latinos age 40 or older, and Republicans oppose legalizing marijuana.

3 Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Page 3 Table 2 California voter opinion about legalizing marijuana across demographic and regional subgroups Favor Oppose No opinion Total registered voters 54% 43 3 Region Los Angeles County 52% 45 3 South Coast 47% 49 4 Other Southern California 48% 49 3 Central Valley 52% 43 5 San Francisco Bay Area 66% 30 4 Other Northern California* 52% Party registration Democrats 58% 37 5 Republicans 42% 55 3 No party preference/other 59% 37 4 Gender Male 62% 36 2 Female 46% 49 5 Age % % % % or older 43% 52 5 Marital status Married 49% 46 5 Separated/divorced/widowed 54% 43 3 Single/never married 64% 34 2 Race/ethnicity White non-hispanic 59% 36 5 Latino 41% 57 2 Latino age % 47 ** Latino age 40 or older 30% 66 4 African American/Asian American/other 60% 38 2 * Small sample base. ** Less than ½ of 1%

4 Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Page 4 Continuing strong support for the state s medical marijuana law In 1996 California voters approved Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative, which exempts from state criminal laws patients or caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for medical use when prescribed by a doctor. Since then even larger majorities of voters have voiced support for the law. The current Field Poll finds 72% of voters favoring the law, similar to the levels of support found in two earlier surveys conducted over the past ten years. Table 3 Trend of California voter views about the state's medical marijuana law Favor 72% 74% 74% Oppose No opinion Two in three oppose federal efforts to crack down on businesses trying to sell medical marijuana By a greater than two to one margin (67% to 27%) voters oppose efforts by the federal government to crack down on businesses in California trying to sell marijuana for medical purposes. Opposition spans voters of all political stripes, with 68% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans and 78% of non-partisans opposing this policy. Table 4 Do you favor or oppose efforts by the federal government to crack down on businesses trying to sell marijuana for medical purposes Favor Oppose No opinion Total statewide 27% 67 6 Party registration Democrats 23% 68 9 Republicans 41% 55 4 No party preference/other 17% 78 5

5 Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Page 5 Most Californians would support allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in their own community By a 58% to 38% margin California voters say they would favor allowing medical marijuana dispensaries operate in the city or town where they live. Support spans all regions of the state, and is greatest in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Table 5 Would you favor or oppose allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate in your city or town Favor Oppose No opinion Total statewide 58% 38 4 Region Los Angeles County 58% 39 3 Other Southern California 52% 44 4 San Francisco Bay Area 65% 30 5 Other Northern California 61% 36 3 Note: Because this question was asked of a random subsample of respondents, the sample sizes applicable to each of the state's four regions are relatively small. 30

6 Wednesday, February 27, 2013 Page 6 Information About The Survey Methodological Details The latest Field Poll was completed February 5-17, 2013 among 834 registered voters in California. In order to cover a broad range of issues and still minimize voter fatigue, some of the questions in this report were asked of a random subsample of 415 registered voters. Interviewing was conducted by telephone in English and Spanish using live interviewers working from Field Research Corporation s central location telephone interviewing facilities. Up to six attempts were made to reach, screen and interview each randomly selected voter on different days and times of day during the interviewing period. Interviewing was completed on either a voter s landline phone or a cell phone depending on the source of the telephone listing from the voter file. After the completion of interviewing, the overall registered voter sample was weighted to Field Poll estimates of the characteristics of the overall registered voter population in California. Sampling error estimates applicable to the results of any probability-based survey depend on sample size as well as the percentage distribution being examined. The maximum sampling error estimates for results based on the overall sample of 834 registered voters have a sampling error of +/- 3.5 percentage points, while findings from the random subsample of 415 voters have a sampling error of +/- 5.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The maximum sampling error is based on results in the middle of the sampling distribution (i.e., percentages at or near 50%). Percentages at either end of the distribution (those closer to 10% or 90%) have a smaller margin of error. There are other potential sources of error in surveys besides sampling error. However, the overall design and execution of the survey sought to minimize these other possible sources of error. The Field Poll was established in 1947 as The California Poll by Mervin Field, who is still an active advisor. The Poll has operated continuously since then as an independent, non-partisan survey of California public opinion. The Poll receives annual funding from media subscribers of The Field Poll, from several California foundations, and the University of California and California State University systems, who receive the data files from each Field Poll survey shortly after its completion for teaching and secondary research purposes. Questions Asked Do you favor or oppose making the use of marijuana legal, with age and other controls like those that apply to alcohol? In 1996 California voters approved Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative, which exempted from state criminal laws patients or caregivers who possessed or cultivated marijuana for medical use when prescribed by a doctor. Do you favor or oppose this law?* Do you favor or oppose efforts by the federal government to crack down on businesses in California trying to sell marijuana for medicinal purposes?* Would you favor or oppose allowing dispensaries that sell marijuana to operate in the city or town where you live?* * Question asked of a random subsample of 415 registered voters statewide