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Governors Raise Concerns About Marijuana Edibles
Colorado’s John Hickenlooper on Thursday became the third state governor in a week to raise serious concerns about marijuana edibles. “Back in the day, candy cigarettes desensitized kids to the dangers of tobacco – and today, pot-infused gummy bears send the wrong message to our kids about marijuana,” he said in his annual State of the […]
Poll: Most Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana
A new poll released Friday finds that 52 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. The results are in line with other recent surveys showing that most people in the U.S. want to end cannabis prohibition. The new poll, from YouGov, found that only a third of Americans — 34 percent — oppose legalization. Among Democrats, […]
Vermont Governor Calls for Legalizing Marijuana in State of the State Address
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin used his annual State of the State speech on Thursday to call on lawmakers to pass legislation legalizing and regulating marijuana. “I will work with you to craft the right bill that thoughtfully and carefully eliminates the era of prohibition that is currently failing us so miserably,” Shumlin told legislators. “I believe […]
Sons of Two State Chief Justices Face Drug Charges
In a strange drug war coincidence, the sons of the top judicial officials in two states are both facing marijuana charges. In North Carolina, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark D. Martin’s son was charged late last month with possessing cannabis as well as a water bong, knife and various small empty bags allegedly used to package marijuana. It is at […]
Mexico City Mayor: Legal Marijuana Would Hurt Cartels, Is Issue of Freedom
Legalizing marijuana is an issue of personal freedom and would take money away from violent drug cartels, the mayor of Mexico City says in a new interview. “My position is always the defense of freedoms,” Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told El Universal. “I do support legalization.” Under legalization, the marijuana trade “would not be attractive for purposes of drug […]
Surgeon General Announces Review of Federal Drug Policies
The U.S. surgeon general is preparing a first-of-its-kind report “presenting the state of the science on substance use, addiction and health,” the federal government has announced. The report from Vivek Murthy, the nation’s top public health official, will “outline potential future direction” for drug policies and “educate, encourage and call upon all Americans to take action,” according to a […]
A Look Back at 2015; and Ahead to 2016
The end of the year is a natural time to review our progress advancing legalization over the past 12 months, and to look ahead to what we hope to achieve in the coming year. Looking Back at 2015 Compared to our recent dramatic electoral victories in 2012 and again in 2014, 2015 was a slow year. […]
Obama’s Drug Czar Lies to Congress About Drug War Budget
Federal drug policy officials in recent years have done everything they can to send the message that they have a balanced, health-focused strategy that acknowledges drug abuse is a medical problem we can’t arrest our way out of. While Obama administration officials often use fuzzy math or artful language to obscure the fact that most […]
A Second Look at Ohio: Why It’s Worth Supporting
With the 2015 election day only two weeks away, and prodded by our friend Russ Belville at 420 Radio for failing to more enthusiastically embrace Issue 3 in Ohio, this seemed like a good time to take a second look at the measure on the ballot in Ohio to both legalize marijuana for medical purposes and fully legalize marijuana for all adults.
First, one might justifiably ask the authors of this measure why they would bother with medical marijuana at all. If marijuana is legal for all adults, that includes patients as well as recreational users, and it removes the need for patients to pay a physician to confirm their need for marijuana. With the exception of a small medical use program that would cover those minors who have a legitimate medical need, there is no need for two separate legalization distribution systems.
But having somewhat duplicative legalization systems, while it may not be efficient, is not a reason to oppose Initiative 3.
Provisions Limiting Access to the New Market Are Not New
The reason given by most who claim to support legalization, but who oppose the Ohio proposal, is the reality that the investors who have put up millions of dollars to qualify the initiative for the November ballot also stand to profit handsomely from their investment, by controlling the 10 commercial cultivation centers allowed under this plan. It strikes many of us as inappropriate to build such an economic advantage by a few rich investors into the state’s constitution.
But as Belville and others (including this author) have noted, several other states that have legalized marijuana (for medical use) have limited entry into the legal industry by placing severe limits on the numbers of licenses that will be permitted, or by requiring such enormous financial investments that ordinary citizens are effectively shut out of the industry. So limiting access to the commercial cultivation centers in the newly legal market would be nothing new, nor should it justify opposing this opportunity to end marijuana prohibition in Ohio. We should focus on ending prohibition, and not get distracted by who will profit from the legal market.
Why NORML Supported I-502
In his latest rant, Belville questions why NORML and other pro-legalization organizations would endorse I-502 in Washington state in 2012, which failed to legalize personal cultivation, and included a 5 nanogram per se DUID provision that would leave many smokers unfairly subject to a DUID charge, but would either remain neutral on Issue 3 in Ohio (MPP, ASA and DPA) or tepidly endorse the proposal (NORML).
The answer to this question is simple: In 2012 marijuana for personal use was illegal in all 50 states, and had been for more than 75 years. It was crucial that some state – any state – show the courage to break the mold and openly defy federal law, as New York and a handful of other states did near the end of alcohol prohibition. For the legalization movement to gain credibility and force our way onto the mainstream political agenda, we had to take legalization out of the theoretical realm and demonstrate that it actually works.
Our opponents had always claimed that if we legalize marijuana, the sky would fall. Everyone would sit home and get stoned all day; no one would go to work or live an ordinary life; and western civilization as we know it would come to an end (perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but you get the point).
Of course, we would counter that legalization would stop the senseless arrest and prosecution of otherwise law-abiding citizens who smoke marijuana responsibly, and save enormous amounts of law enforcement resources that could be redirected to fighting serious and violent crime.
But until we had at least one state with the fortitude to declare itself out of the prohibition game, we had no actual data to validate either position. It was an endless theoretical argument, with no clear winner.
The approval of legalization in Washington and Colorado in 2012, by giving us these two state laboratories where we could measure the actual impact of legalization, was the game changer that catapulted full legalization into the mainstream political debate, and gave us the measurable evidence that legalization is indeed the solution that most Americans are looking for. And the fears that were stoked by our opponents – of a spike in adolescent marijuana smoking, or carnage on the roads caused by stoned drivers – simply did not materialize. In fact, just the opposite. Adolescent use is slightly down in the legalization states, and there has been no increase in DUID cases.
We gave our strong support to I-502 in Washington (as well as A-64 in Colorado) even with its limitations, because of the crucial need to demonstrate that a majority of the voters in a state would support full legalization, and that legalization actually works on the ground, with few, if any, unintended consequences. Those first two victories made it possible for our subsequent victories in Alaska and Oregon in 2014, and hopefully many more to follow.
Issue 3 in Ohio Should Be Approved
There. Now I have said it, clearly and unequivocally. Issue 3 in Ohio should be endorsed by all who favor legalization, even with its imperfections. As the NORML board of directors concluded when we endorsed the Ohio proposal, unless the current proposal in Ohio is approved, it will likely be five years or more (perhaps far longer) before marijuana will be legalized in Ohio. Under their current laws, roughly 12,000 Ohioans are arrested on marijuana charges each year. Does anyone really believe we should sit by waiting for a more acceptable version of legalization to magically appear, while another 60,000 to 100,000 smokers are arrested in Ohio?
In addition, just as the victories in Washington and Colorado were especially significant because they were the first, and opened the door for serious consideration in additional states, it would be an enormous step forward politically to adopt full legalization in Ohio — a large, conservative midwestern state. And it would suddenly put full legalization on the table for serious consideration by many other similarly situated states.
Its time to legalize in Ohio.
Leaked Report: UK Legalization Would Generate 100s of Millions for Government
Legalizing marijuana in the United Kingdom would generate new tax revenues and savings totaling over half a billion pounds, according to a newly leaked report from the nation’s Treasury.
The analysis finds that ending cannabis prohibition and legalizing sales could “generate noteable tax revenue” somewhere in the range of £397-£871 million per year and says that lessened enforcement would “lead to overall savings to public services” by an estimated £211 annually.
Not having to chase down, arrest and process cannabis users would save approximately 672,000 hours of police time every year, the report indicates.
The analysis was commissioned months ago by then-Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg but was kept under wraps until Monday, when it was leaked to the The Independent newspaper and BBC’s Newsnight program.
The document came to light on the same day Members of Parliament convened a debate on marijuana law reform that was spurred by an online government petition that garnered more than 200,000 signatures.
The report also notes that “evidence suggests that alcohol and tobacco – both legal – may cause greater harm” than cannabis. And whereas U.S. states that have ended prohibition have set the age for legal use at 21, the Treasury calculations assume that the U.K.’s legal age would be 18.
In addition to legalization’s economic impact, the report details some additional benefits that ending prohibition would have, such as mandated potency and purity testing on marijuana, sting operations to curtail underage sales and licensing conditions that would help keep the market under control.
Prime Minister David Cameron remains opposed to legalizing marijuana for now, but reform advocates say that the new report could boost the debate further into the mainstream to the point that ending prohibition will eventually become a political reality.
“We have a Conservative government who have not responded to rational argument on drug reform historically — but who are facing a massive deficit and struggling with unpopular cuts to public services,” Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst with Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told Marijuana.com in an email. “In this context a strong economic argument from a trusted source can change minds where more established social justice arguments have failed. The government is doing its own cost-benefit analysis, but a political one — and a report like this can only helps tip the scales in favour of change.”
Read the leaked report in full here.