{"id":1380,"date":"2013-02-26T08:17:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T08:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/?p=20679"},"modified":"2013-02-26T08:17:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T08:17:26","slug":"states-joining-the-marijuana-legalization-debate-in-droves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/states-joining-the-marijuana-legalization-debate-in-droves\/","title":{"rendered":"States Joining the Marijuana Legalization Debate in Droves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/states-joining-the-marijuana-legalization-debate-in-droves\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"251\" height=\"201\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/law.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"law\" title=\"law\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-20680\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/states-joining-the-marijuana-legalization-debate-in-droves\/attachment\/law\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-20680\" title=\"law\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/law-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The floodgates appear to be opening wide after residents of Colorado and Washington state decided to legalize marijuana. \u00a0Rhode Island has recently introduced several bills to legalize and regulate marijuana.\u00a0 Hawaii representatives are set to have senate hearings on decriminalization next week and <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=002481\" target=\"_blank\">another eight states have pending legislation<\/a> that could legalize medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Maine and Maryland have now also entered the debate.\u00a0 State representatives in Maine, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maine.gov\/legis\/house\/hsebios\/russdm.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Reps. Diane Russell<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maine.gov\/legis\/house_gop\/_reps\/rep.php?rep=libby&amp;story_title=Maine%20House%20GOP:%20Meet%20Rep.%20Aaron%20Libby\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Libby<\/a> have created the Tax and Regulate Marijuana Act.\u00a0 The intent of the bill is clear as marijuana would be regulated by the government and additional tax revenues would be collected.\u00a0 In Maryland a similar bill is being discussed.\u00a0 House Bill 1453 would permit up to one ounce of marijuana and possession of three plants for Maryland residents.\u00a0 Both bills would include a tax of 50$ per ounce of marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if the bills will pass.\u00a0 Maine in particular seems to be a bit of a long shot at this time as the legislation must go through a number of votes.\u00a0 If lawmakers approve the bill, residents will vote on the measure in November.\u00a0 At first the process sounds easy enough but that is only half of what is required.\u00a0 If residents do approve the measure, state lawmakers <strong><em>once again <\/em><\/strong>will have vote yes.\u00a0 At this time the people would have to vote again on the measure in November of 2014.\u00a0 It will effectively require 2 years of debate and votes to get marijuana legalization approved in Maine.<\/p>\n<p>These type of delays highlight the glacial pace that has become the norm in American governing.\u00a0 While less voting will be required in Maryland, it still seems legalizing marijuana during the current legislative atmosphere will be difficult.\u00a0 Both state Republicans and Democrats agree that passage of the bill is unlikely at this time.\u00a0 However, the conversation seems to be shifting from \u201cif\u201d to \u201cwhen\u201d and activists seem emboldened after tremendous victories in Colorado and Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"251\" height=\"201\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/law.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"law\" title=\"law\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-20680\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/states-joining-the-marijuana-legalization-debate-in-droves\/attachment\/law\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-20680\" title=\"law\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/law-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>The floodgates appear to be opening wide after residents of Colorado and Washington state decided to legalize marijuana. \u00a0Rhode Island has recently introduced several bills to legalize and regulate marijuana.\u00a0 Hawaii representatives are set to have senate hearings on decriminalization next week and <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=002481\" target=\"_blank\">another eight states have pending legislation<\/a> that could legalize medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Maine and Maryland have now also entered the debate.\u00a0 State representatives in Maine, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maine.gov\/legis\/house\/hsebios\/russdm.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Reps. Diane Russell<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maine.gov\/legis\/house_gop\/_reps\/rep.php?rep=libby&amp;story_title=Maine%20House%20GOP:%20Meet%20Rep.%20Aaron%20Libby\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Libby<\/a> have created the Tax and Regulate Marijuana Act.\u00a0 The intent of the bill is clear as marijuana would be regulated by the government and additional tax revenues would be collected.\u00a0 In Maryland a similar bill is being discussed.\u00a0 House Bill 1453 would permit up to one ounce of marijuana and possession of three plants for Maryland residents.\u00a0 Both bills would include a tax of 50$ per ounce of marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if the bills will pass.\u00a0 Maine in particular seems to be a bit of a long shot at this time as the legislation must go through a number of votes.\u00a0 If lawmakers approve the bill, residents will vote on the measure in November.\u00a0 At first the process sounds easy enough but that is only half of what is required.\u00a0 If residents do approve the measure, state lawmakers <strong><em>once again <\/em><\/strong>will have vote yes.\u00a0 At this time the people would have to vote again on the measure in November of 2014.\u00a0 It will effectively require 2 years of debate and votes to get marijuana legalization approved in Maine.<\/p>\n<p>These type of delays highlight the glacial pace that has become the norm in American governing.\u00a0 While less voting will be required in Maryland, it still seems legalizing marijuana during the current legislative atmosphere will be difficult.\u00a0 Both state Republicans and Democrats agree that passage of the bill is unlikely at this time.\u00a0 However, the conversation seems to be shifting from \u201cif\u201d to \u201cwhen\u201d and activists seem emboldened after tremendous victories in Colorado and Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,51,1,3],"tags":[2631],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}