Oregon, Alaska, D.C. Next to Vote on Legal Marijuana

The November 4 ballot measure allows for possession of limited amounts of marijuana for personal use, but not for the legalized sale of marijuana in the District.

There is speculation that if voters in the District legalize recreational marijuana, a potential Republican-controlled Congress taking office in January 2015 would use the power of a joint Congressional resolution to overturn the law.

The clearance of the marijuana referendums in Alaska and Oregon will be in the hands of local voters, and not Congress.

In Alaska, voters will decide if adults can possess up to one ounce of marijuana and maintain six plants. The measure would legalize production and sales, under the control of a state board, and marijuana would be taxed.

The Oregon proposal would allow adults to possess much more marijuana legally: up to eight ounces and four plants. Production and sales would be regulated by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. And marijuana would be taxed.

Recent polls indicate the Alaska and Oregon referendums face considerable challenges on Election Day. However, a current Washington Post poll shows strong support for legalization in the District of Columbia.

Yahoo News

If this what many of you have been waiting for, go out and vote!
November 4th is only days away.

The more states that will accept this, the more states the will start to consider it. Taxation has proven to be a great revenue driving force as with Colorado's example. And decriminalization should have been put in effect for this substance many years ago, in my opinion. It's time to start worrying about the real issues are country has, rather then turn a blind eye to what the majority feels as has been overlooked in the past.

Well here's are chance, go out and vote!
We that live in other states are counting on you, AB

a reply to: AnteBellum

Third time's a charm hopefully. The only reason it failed up here last time is because people got greedy and wanted the state to pay restitution to anyone who had been imprisoned because of a marijuana offense. There was no way that was possible. Thank you for your good wishes, and thanks for reminding people to
GO VOTE!!!

And governor Shummlin's still dragging his feet in Vernont. IN VERMONT! Hippy, dippy, extra- crunchy, granola-ee Vermont...not ahead of the pack on this....WTF? Maybe EVERYBODY'S already stoned up there?


The only answer to all this totally whacked world is to embrace absurdity. Just do it. Or else we all go crazy. I'm not taking any steps back. i've worked too damn hard to get where I am and I'm jumping way ahead and going home this time. All my Karma has been fried.. it's gone.. because I accrued it in an illusion anyway and so did you. Dharmakaya... the Tao, every God every conceived of...it's YOU and ME. WE are ONE.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Wasn't weed decriminalize in Alaska in the 70's?

a reply to: guitarplayer

That was actually when they criminalized it to begin with. It was legal, then the Feds came in and said " we can't tell you what to do, but if keep marijuana legal then we will just keep all of our federal transportation funds." Well, since we need our roads, and they are expensive to maintain, the state caved and made it illegal. There have been some Supreme Court decisions made to support the right to privacy written into our constitution. A person can possess up to an ounce and be growing twelve plants in the privacy of their own home and not be penalized. Technically it is still illegal, and the people who ironically have the most problems are the people who have medical cards. Since you are only allowed to possess in your own home, no transportation is allowed. The only way for legal medical marijuana patients to access their medication is to grow it themselves.

a reply to: guitarplayer

Yes, in 1973. My mistake. It was in 1990 that it was recriminalized.
The Ravin decision made by the Supreme Court is still upheld though. I was also wrong on the amount of plants, it's six plants. Sorry about that.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Hopefully they all pass!!

This is long overdue and should really be done on a federal level. There is no reason marijuana shouldn't be legal. There is so much money to be made from taxation of sales, so much money.

It can be sold in "clubs," monitored and taxed. People could still grow limited amounts at home, just like medicinal marijuana.

Arrest people selling it on the streets or growing it illegally. Wouldn't the same happen for black market liquor sales? Alcohol is a much more harmful substance than marijuana and it's totally legal. Why not marijuana?

The time is now! End prohibition!!

a reply to: AnteBellum

oregon measure 91 passed.
interesting to see how the roll out of cannabis will look like.

Link to Source

Residents of Oregon, Alaska, and the U.S. capital voted to legalize marijuana on Tuesday, in key victories that could fuel the legalization movement as cannabis usage is increasingly recognized by the American mainstream.

The Oregon and Alaska measures would legalize recreational pot use and usher in a network of retail pot shops similar to those operating in Washington state and Colorado, which in 2012 voted to become the first U.S. states to allow marijuana use for fun.

A less far-reaching proposal in the District of Columbia to allow marijuana possession but not retail sales won nearly 65 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting, unofficial results showed.

The referendums come amid shifts in American opinions on marijuana in recent years that have energized efforts to legalize cannabis, a drug that remains illegal under federal law even as Colorado and Washington state have been given the go-ahead to experiment with legalization.

"In 2016 we're going to push the ball forward in several states until we end prohibition," Leland Berger, a Portland attorney who helped write the new law, told Reuters outside a packed Portland nightclub where advocates declared victory amid pot-centric revelry.

Advocates have portrayed the District of Columbia measure as a civil rights issue, saying studies have shown that African Americans are disproportionately more likely to be arrested on marijuana charges than are people of other races.

The D.C. measure had been strongly favored to pass but could still be halted during a review by the U.S. Congress, which has constitutional oversight over the capital. The measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to two ounces (57 grams) of cannabis and grow up to six plants.

POT OPPONENTS TO FIGHT ON

The Oregon law, which drew 54 percent support in preliminary returns, takes effect in July 2015 and stores could open the following year.

The Alaska measure led by about 52-48 percent with all precincts reporting preliminary results early on Wednesday, and groups for and against the initiative said it had passed.

"Marijuana prohibition has been an abject failure, and Alaska voters said enough is enough," said Chris Rempert, political director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, in a statement.

If given official approval, a regulatory body would have nine months to write regulations after the election is certified and the measure becomes law, with stores likely coming at some point in 2016.

Opponents of legal weed in Oregon say they would take their fight to the Oregon legislature, pushing for stricter laws designed to limit access to pot by children, among other efforts.

Kevin Sabet, co-founder of anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said his group would redouble its efforts to build a broader coalition to beat back better-funded pro-cannabis groups ahead of what is expected to be an expanded fight in 2016.

"Tonight is going to inspire us to do better and to try harder and go after the donors we have to go after in order to level the playing field," Sabet said. "The more people that hear about legalization, the more people are uncomfortable with it. For us it's about getting our message out."

Meanwhile, a proposed constitutional amendment to make Florida the 24th state and the first in the South to allow medical marijuana was defeated after falling short of the 60 percent support needed to pass, according to groups both for and against the measure.

In Maine, a proposal to legalize the possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana failed in Lewiston and passed in South Portland, advocacy groups said. In Guam, unofficial results indicated it became the first U.S. territory to approve medical marijuana, an election official there said.

Everyone cheer, this is just the beginning!
Sorry for the late update, I am taking a break from ATS for the moment.

The CSA was passed in 1970, and has been legally justified by the authority granted by a clause within the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce. As marijuana prohibition comes to an end with more and more states developing intrastate commerce regulations around medical and recreational marijuana, the CSA will eventually become totally untenable. All this is ultimately a result of the foolish decision to declare pot Schedule I with no medical use. Israeli researchers knew about potential medical applications as early as the mid 1960's, but they were ignored by the architects of big government in power at the time.

If enforced against citizens in pot-legal states, the CSA creates a Constitutional crisis by denying that the people have a right to self-government as protected by the 10th amendment. The Constitution won't be amended to prohibit pot - instead, the CSA will be repealed, and pot-illegal states will need to assert local laws to enact their own prohibitions, as well as come up with their own tax money for enforcement. The federal government has had no problem printing the $20 billion or so each year, to keep the dream of Prohibition alive for so long. States do not have this luxury - the unfunded mandate of drug prohibition at the local level is another factor leading to so much of the current opposition