Celebrated SF Pot Activist Opposes California Legalization Measure

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He’s not the only one.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

Dennis Peron, the celebrated cannabis activist and backer of 1996’s Proposition 215, which legalized MED in California, opposes the state’s coming REC vote. “In 1996, it was like a dark room had been left for so long without any light. I let a little light in. A light of compassion, hope and empowerment. We empowered the patients and the voters and the people that don’t believe marijuana is a crime,” Peron said. “But Prop. 64 will destroy that power that we’ve had for the last 20 years.”

In the 1980’s, Peron worked to enable San Francisco AIDS patients to access MED. He’s one of a handful of people whose work is considered essential to the legalization movement.

Public support for REC legalization in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 57%, according to the Pew Research Center, up from 32% 10 years ago.

More than 900 days since Maryland legalized MED, legal sales have not begun. The earliest dispensaries could open is next summer at the earliest. REC supporters in Maine disagree on policy details.

A court ruled that Arkansans will get to vote on at least one of two MED proposals in November. An anti-MED group in Montana may have violated state election laws according to an official. In Arizona’s industry, there are rumors of a “rigged” system for awarding business licenses.

If Denver voters pass the limited social use initiative, the situation at concerts will be a bit of a grey area. Though the situation is emphatically not urgent. Social use has picked up some last-minute opposition. Fourteen more Colorado counties are also voting on cannabis ballot measures.

 

Rand Corporation policy expert Beau Kilmer talked about what legalization could mean for road safety, youth consumption and other tricky issues with the L.A. Times. Journalist Johann Hari says fears surrounding legalization are largely unfounded.

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