Alaska, Oregon, DC vote to legalize recreational marijuana
Alaska, Oregon, DC vote to legalize recreational marijuana
WASHINGTON Voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia on Tuesday approved recreational marijuana use, joining the growing list of states legalizing pot.
The Alaska measure was the latest to be declared as approved, after ballots were counted overnight. A national pro-pot group, the Marijuana Policy Project, was the major contributor behind the Alaska initiative, and its spending dwarfed that of opponents.
The group behind the initiative argued pot prohibition has been "as ineffective, wasteful and problematic as alcohol prohibition."
The states now join Washington state and Colorado, who legalized the drug in 2012.
The only major loss for the pro-pot side came in Florida and even there, a medical marijuana proposal earned 58 percent -- just shy of the 60 percent required to pass.
The legalization of marijuana was among the ballot issues that voters in 41 states and the District of Columbia weighed in on during Tuesday's voting. In all, voters had their say on 147 ballot initiatives ranging from pot to dueling gun measures in Washington state that would alternately require and prohibit universal background checks on firearms.
Voters there ultimately voted to expand background checks.
The Washington vote came less than two weeks after a student opened fire in a Seattle-area high school, killing four people, including himself. Two other students remain hospitalized.
Washington's Initiative 591would have prevented the government from requiring statewide background checks for gun purchases until a federal standard is established. It would have also prohibited the state from confiscating firearms without due process.
Washington's Initiative 594 basically greenlights the opposite -- and implements statewide background checks.
According to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, there was a possibility both could have passed but it was unclear how that would have shaken out.
Other measures voters considered included hot-button topics like hike in the minimum wage and gambling.
Residents in Colorado weighed an amendment to their state constitutions that would expand rights to the unborn. It ultimately failed. Opponents have argued that the measures would ban birth control, end in vitro fertilization and restrict access to abortion providers.
Voters in four states approved increases in the state minimum wage. In Arkansas, it will rise from $6.25 an hour to $8.50 by 2017, in Nebraska from $7.25 to $9 and in South Dakota from $7.25 to $8.50. In Alaska, it will increase $2 an hour to $9.75 in 2016.
In the past two decades, 10 state proposals to raise the minimum wage have been approved by voters about 65 percent of the time, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot question that would have repealed a 2011 state law that allows for up to three regional resort casinos and a single slots parlor.
Trying to sway voters brought in millions in outside money to the state. A committee financed largely by casino companies raised $12 million to defeat the referendum, eclipsing the amount raised by the Repeal the Casino Deal which collected $670,000 for their push, according to the state financial filings. Repeal the Casino Deal is a citizen-backed initiative that asked residents to reject the current law, saying the casinos will court crime and do little for local economic growth.
The $12 million in opposition to the measure was largely divvied up by three casinos: Penn National Gaming, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts.
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The legalization of marijuana was among the ballot issues that voters in 41 states and the District of Columbia weighed in on during Tuesday's voting. In all, voters had their say on 147 ballot initiatives ranging from pot to dueling gun measures in Washington state that would alternately require and prohibit universal background checks on firearms.
It seems to me that legalizing marijuana in DC by referendum brings the city into conflict with federal law and creates confusion that doesn't exist anywhere else. Under the Constitution, DC is not a state but rather a federal enclave subject to the plenary authority of Congress. The city only has as much authority as Congress delegates to it. Possession of marijuana is illegal under federal law and federal law applies to all of DC, especially the substantial parts of the city that are under direct federal control (federal buildings/parks controlled by the department of interior/some roads etc). Also, federal police (in various agencies) have authority to supplement the city's police force and make arrests for criminal acts. Congress could nullify the DC law or worse let it stand and allow people to be arrested by federal authorities for doing something residents thought was legal. Ultimately, this could end up in court and, if it does, the pot law might be struck down.
I don't think the reason for passage will lessen the conflict between laws. In any event, a friend of mine mentioned the racial impact as well. My comment on this is purelyanecdotal but I think that part of this is a difference in class more than race. Poor black people seem to smoke in public; whites tend to conceal it. The police can easily but you in public, especially if they'recruisingaround allthetime because it's a high crime area.
Try for "Glaucoma Prevention Maintenance", Mick."Honey, I'm just trying to lower the intra-ocular pressure to reduce my risk for glaucoma..."
LOL...
I was kind of hoping both opposing gun measures in WA would win just to see how the hell they could even make that work...
I'm kind of evil like that...
My dad had his best days toward the end of his life when he had a little MJ chocolate bar.
I'm a supporter of rec use. The last time I used MJ was probably high school, so I dont support it for my own use. I just dont see it as a drug that is any more dangerous than alcohol.
I think in 2016 we will add another 4-6 states who view the issue the same way.
LOL..
The sooner the drunkard, hypocrite Feds legalize pot, the sooner and easier it will be to knock down other criminal activity sometimes associated with moving pot. Pot avenues provide a lotta paths for drugs and human trafficking; take that away, and make every body's jobs easier.