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Pro-Legalization Cops Cheer Marijuana Reform Election Results

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By on Legislation, News

LEAP

Nine States and Localities Vote for More Sensible Drug Laws
In a historic night for drug law reformers, on Tuesday, Colorado and Washington voters passed measures legalizing and regulating marijuana, Massachusetts became the 18th state to allow medical marijuana and six localities voted to modernize policies on marijuana.
“I cannot tell you how happy I am that after 40 years of the racist, destructive exercise in futility that is the war on drugs, my home state of Washington has now put us on a different path,” said Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief who is now a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
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How To Avoid A Marijuana DUI Charge Under WA’s I-502

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By on Legislation, News

Bail Bonds Guys
This scene, unfortunately, is likely to play out many times in Washington state with legal marijuana and a strict new DUI rule. Here’s how you can improve your chances

By Anthony Martinelli
Communications Director
Initiative 502 has passed in Washington State, with portions of the measure becoming law on December 6th of this year (the one-ounce decrim and the new DUID mandate). The rest will follow a year later. Regardless of what side of the debate you were on, this is the reality of our current cannabis policies in Washington State. Part of Initiative 502 will soon be law.
We first want to congratulate those behind this initiative on their success. National headlines proclaiming that “Washington State Has Legalized Marijuana” will benefit the movement, and decriminalization of an ounce will stop many unneeded misdemeanors.
That said, we opposed this initiative for good reason. Rhetoric and politics aside, the new driving under the influence of drugs policy for THC, which is per se (meaning your blood level, not actual impairment, is the determining factor for guilt), will ensnare innocent individuals, especially patients, and especially those under 21, for whom it’s a zero tolerance policy.
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CA Votes To Reform ‘Three Strikes’ Mandatory Minimum Law

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By on Legislation, News

Los Angeles Times
California’s badly overcrowded prisons and jails are one of the most visible signs of the failure of mandatory minimum sentences

Proposition 36 Puts End to 25-to-Life Sentences for Minor Drug Law Violations and Other Nonviolent Crimes
California’s voters appear to have voted overwhelmingly to reform their state’s draconian “three strikes” law. The measure, Proposition 36, which enjoyed a huge lead in early returns, will close a controversial loophole in the law so that life sentences can only be imposed when the new felony conviction is “serious or violent.”
Three strikes laws, often known as “habitual offender” laws, grew out of the “tough on crime” era of the 1980s and 90s. Between 1993 and 1995, 24 states passed some kind of three strikes law, but California’s 1994 three-strikes ballot measure was especially harsh.
While the law required the first and second strike to be either violent or serious, any infraction can trigger a third strike and the life sentence that goes with it. Therefore, petty offenses – such as stealing a piece of pizza – have led to life imprisonment for thousands of people.
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Washington Becomes 2nd State In One Day To Legalize Marijuana

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By on Legislation, News

Nuggetry

Voters Say Yes To Regulation, Taxation Plan

Isn’t it just the way it always goes? Nothing for 75 years, then two states in one day. Washington voters resoundingly approved Initiative 502, which regulates and taxes marijuana production in the state, with 56 percent voting Yes and 44 percent voting No.

The state’s voters on Tuesday evening joined those of Colorado, from which results had become final earlier, in legalizing cannabis.

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Marijuana Legalized In Colorado: Voters Flex Their Power

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By on Legislation, News

Nugs.com

LEGAL
Colorado has become the first state in the history of the U.S. to legalize marijuana. Voters in the Rocky Mountain State decided it’s high time to just get over 75 years of nonsense around the cannabis plant.

According to early returns, 53 percent of state voters approved Amendment 64, which, according to its sponsors, will restore some sanity to Colorado’s marijuana laws by treating cannabis much more like alcohol and less like an illegal drug.
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Medical Marijuana States Welcome Massachusetts

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Medical Marijuana Blog

It’s official: Massachusetts is becoming the 18th medical marijuana state in the U.S.

Massachusetts voters Tuesday night approved a new law legalizing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes by people with cancer, hepatitis C, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, glaucoma, HIV, AIDs, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis and other serious conditions.
Voters didn’t just approve the initiative. They, well, MASSively approved it by 63 percent to 37 percent, unequivocal landslide numbers equalling those of medical marijuana’s previous biggest victory — that one in Michigan.
The full text of the initiative, Question 3, is available here [PDF].
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DARE Curriculum Drops Marijuana

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By on Culture, News

KNDU
Could DARE finally have come to its senses regarding marijuana?

Has the national DARE organization — Drug Abuse Resistance Education — removed the discussion of marijuana from its curriculum? It appears the answer is yes, reports Kevin Shaub at KNDU.

Nearly 100 students who graduated from the Sunset View Elementary DARE program in Kennewick, Washington, will be the last group to be taught the potential dangers of marijuana, said the Kennewick Police Department’s DARE officer, Mike Meyer.
“The new curriculum starts as of December for us here in Kennewick,” Meyer said. “It does not bring up the subject of marijuana at all.”
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Massachusetts Voters Poised To Legalize Medical Marijuana

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

The Daily Chronic

Massachusetts voters will get the chance Tuesday to make their state the 18th in the country to legalize cannabis for certain medicinal uses with a doctor’s authorization. Question 3 proposes the elimination of state penalties for the use of medical marijuana by patients with chronic or debilitating medical conditions.

The ballot issue calls for relatively tight regulation of medical marijuana, according to Steve Fox, director of government relations for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, reports Stephanie Haven at The Tufts Daily.
“We’ve learned from [California’s law], and we now draft initiatives so only those who need [medical marijuana]can get it,” Fox said. (Of course, it isn’t up to Fox — or anyone except you and your doctor — to determine if you “need” medical marijuana.)
A poll was released and conducted by Public Policy Polling regarding the measure in late August. It revealed that 58 percent of those surveyed are in favor of medical marijuana.
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CO, OR, WA Voters To Decide On Legalizing Marijuana

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By on Legislation, News

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Washington, Oregon and Colorado will be voting Tuesday on various cannabis legalization plans

Marijuana history is about to be altered forever in the United States; after tomorrow, at least one state — and possibly three — will almost certainly have legalized cannabis.
Colorado, Oregon and Washington voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of ballot initiatives that would, to one degree or another, move toward ending marijuana prohibition in their respective states.  A win at the ballot would be a first of its kind in U.S. history; no state has ever legalized cannabis before.
The latest polls show that slight majorities in Colorado and Washington support their initiatives. Washington’s well-funded I-502, unfortunately, has incited lots of division within the cannabis community in that state, largely due to its inclusion of strict marijuana DUI limits which appear to be unsupported by science. Oregon’s Measure 80 trails by about seven points in the polls. It is the most favorable to cannabis consumers of the three initiatives, and makes the fewest concessions to law enforcement, but, unlike the other two, attracted little out-of-state funding from well-heeled supporters and marijuana reform groups.
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