Approving Proposition 205 in Arizona would mean a new level of freedom for adults and help lead a national reform of marijuana laws, Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer said in a speech in Tempe on Wednesday.
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol brought Blumenauer to Arizona State University to speak on behalf of the marijuana-legalization measure. The Democrat and 20-year member of Congress is one of the nation’s highest-profile pro-marijuana activists.
New campaign-finance records show that billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson forked over $500,000 last week to the group fighting Arizona’s marijuana-legalization measure,Prop 205.
Adelson — CEO and founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation — has been using his money to challenge marijuana legalization across the country, and his gift to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy is one of the group’s largest to date. In two weeks, Arizona voters will get to decide whether they want Colorado-style legalization or continued zero-tolerance felony enforcement for cannabis consumers.
It’s just a matter of time until the nation embraces recreational use of marijuana, according to a Gallup studyreleased Wednesday morning.
America’s passed the halfway mark!
On October 11, Pew Research reported that 57 percent of Americans think that marijuana should be made legal, while 37 percent think it should remain illegal. Just a decade ago, the country polled nearly the opposite way, with 60 percent opposed and 32 percent in favor of legalization.
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.”
Prop 205, which would legalize marijuana in Arizona, is gaining momentum in a new poll.
The poll by OH Predictive Insights, conducted September 28-30, shows an increase in support in the past month for Prop 205, and that the proposition still has a chance at passing. However, it also shows the measure behind 43-47, with 10 percent still undecided.
Prohibition is part of the international order.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
As Canada moves to legalize it has two options regarding international treaties to which it is a part. It could take a “ principled stand” against prohibition or quietly withdraw from the treaties and then attempt to re-enter them with exemptions. Canada being Canada, it is leaning towards the quiet approach.
Grijalva.House.Gov
Arizona’s marijuana-legalization ballot initiative, Proposition 205, has been endorsed by the Arizona Democratic Party and several other notable groups and politicians.
Voters will decide the fate of the proposition on November 8. If it’s approved, adults 21 and older could legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana, grow six live plants at home (unless a landlord says no), and buy cannabis products at a limited system of retail cannabis shops like those in the states of Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.
Police lights flashed outside Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti, Miami this past weekend during the Vote Yes Marijuana Fest, but no one seemed to mind. The officers had been hired to work the event. There were no plans to rough up any of the participants of the festivities, which included a 2:30 a.m. blunt-rolling contest.
“The police understand,” organizer Oski Gonzalez said. “They don’t want to keep hassling people because of some marijuana. They want to be out looking for some real criminals.”
Governor Doug Ducey’s work to defeat marijuana legalization in Arizona has included a lot of behind-the-scenes fundraising, including a pricey propaganda talk this week at a posh hotel.
Ducey’s the headlining special guest for the “roundtable discussion” and reception that begins at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sanctuary on Camelback, 5700 East McDonald Drive, in Paradise Valley. He’ll be joined by two heavyweight Colorado prohibitionists: John Suthers, mayor of Colorado Springs and former Colorado attorney general; and Sergeant Jim Gerhardt, member of the openly prohibitionist Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.