{"id":826,"date":"2012-07-09T07:50:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T07:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/?p=18865"},"modified":"2012-07-09T07:50:41","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T07:50:41","slug":"residents-of-oregon-may-vote-to-legalize-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/residents-of-oregon-may-vote-to-legalize-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents of Oregon May Vote to Legalize Marijuana"},"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\/residents-of-oregon-may-vote-to-legalize-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"274\" height=\"184\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/oregon.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"oregon\" title=\"oregon\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-18866\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/residents-of-oregon-may-vote-to-legalize-marijuana\/attachment\/oregon\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-18866\" title=\"oregon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/oregon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>While the bad news tends to stay ingrained in our psyche, it is important to note all of the success the marijuana reform movement has accomplished.\u00a0 Dispensary raids and the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2012\/06\/21\/michele-leonhart-dea-crack-heroin-marijuana_n_1615270.html\" target=\"_blank\"> DEA\u2019s recent refusal <\/a>to admit that marijuana is less harmful than crack and heroine can give the false impression that patients and marijuana advocates have not been successful.\u00a0 This sentiment could not be farther from the truth.\u00a0 There are already <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881\" target=\"_blank\">17 states and Washington D.C. <\/a>(plus more states with proposed legislation)that have already enacted laws that permit medical marijuana.\u00a0 Additionally <a href=\"http:\/\/norml.org\/marijuana\/personal\/item\/states-that-have-decriminalized\" target=\"_blank\">13 states<\/a> have approved measures to decriminalize low level marijuana possession.<\/p>\n<p>2012 may be the year where marijuana reform is taken to even further heights.\u00a0 Earlier in the year we already learned that both Washington State and Colorado will see its residents vote on whether or not they want a legalized and regulated marijuana system.\u00a0 The groups<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newapproachwa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> New Approach Washington<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.regulatemarijuana.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol<\/a> were instrumental in collecting enough signatures to get the issues to the ballot this November.\u00a0 If passed in either or both of those states, marijuana will be regulated and handled in a similar fashion to alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>Late last week we at <a href=\"www.marijuana.net\" target=\"_blank\">marijuana.net<\/a> were encouraged to hear that it appears a third state may also be joining the legalization list.\u00a0 Oregon activists collected and submitted over twice the required signatures to the state in\u00a0 order to get the issue on the ballot and voted on by residents.\u00a0 The proposed law is being called the<a href=\"http:\/\/octa2012.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Oregon Cannabis Tax Act<\/a>.\u00a0 Another interesting aspect of the bill is that it would also permit farmers to grow hemp, which can be used in a variety of ways including food, fuel, rope, building materials and paper.\u00a0 If approved, Oregon stands to create many jobs including new employees that would be required to operate the hemp farms.<\/p>\n<p>Though the government still is attempting to derail the will of the people, their battle appears futile.\u00a0 Elected officials often forget who they work for and with over half the country supporting legalization and approximately 75% supporting medical marijuana, reform seems to be a matter of inevitability.\u00a0 Their jobs require votes and it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict where they will come from if they ignore several generations of Americans who will no longer tolerate the failed war on drugs, unnecessary youth incarcerations and denying relief to needy patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"274\" height=\"184\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/oregon.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"oregon\" title=\"oregon\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-18866\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/residents-of-oregon-may-vote-to-legalize-marijuana\/attachment\/oregon\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-18866\" title=\"oregon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/oregon-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>While the bad news tends to stay ingrained in our psyche, it is important to note all of the success the marijuana reform movement has accomplished.\u00a0 Dispensary raids and the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2012\/06\/21\/michele-leonhart-dea-crack-heroin-marijuana_n_1615270.html\" target=\"_blank\"> DEA\u2019s recent refusal <\/a>to admit that marijuana is less harmful than crack and heroine can give the false impression that patients and marijuana advocates have not been successful.\u00a0 This sentiment could not be farther from the truth.\u00a0 There are already <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881\" target=\"_blank\">17 states and Washington D.C. <\/a>(plus more states with proposed legislation)that have already enacted laws that permit medical marijuana.\u00a0 Additionally <a href=\"http:\/\/norml.org\/marijuana\/personal\/item\/states-that-have-decriminalized\" target=\"_blank\">13 states<\/a> have approved measures to decriminalize low level marijuana possession.<\/p>\n<p>2012 may be the year where marijuana reform is taken to even further heights.\u00a0 Earlier in the year we already learned that both Washington State and Colorado will see its residents vote on whether or not they want a legalized and regulated marijuana system.\u00a0 The groups<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newapproachwa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> New Approach Washington<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.regulatemarijuana.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol<\/a> were instrumental in collecting enough signatures to get the issues to the ballot this November.\u00a0 If passed in either or both of those states, marijuana will be regulated and handled in a similar fashion to alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>Late last week we at <a href=\"www.marijuana.net\" target=\"_blank\">marijuana.net<\/a> were encouraged to hear that it appears a third state may also be joining the legalization list.\u00a0 Oregon activists collected and submitted over twice the required signatures to the state in\u00a0 order to get the issue on the ballot and voted on by residents.\u00a0 The proposed law is being called the<a href=\"http:\/\/octa2012.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Oregon Cannabis Tax Act<\/a>.\u00a0 Another interesting aspect of the bill is that it would also permit farmers to grow hemp, which can be used in a variety of ways including food, fuel, rope, building materials and paper.\u00a0 If approved, Oregon stands to create many jobs including new employees that would be required to operate the hemp farms.<\/p>\n<p>Though the government still is attempting to derail the will of the people, their battle appears futile.\u00a0 Elected officials often forget who they work for and with over half the country supporting legalization and approximately 75% supporting medical marijuana, reform seems to be a matter of inevitability.\u00a0 Their jobs require votes and it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict where they will come from if they ignore several generations of Americans who will no longer tolerate the failed war on drugs, unnecessary youth incarcerations and denying relief to needy patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,166,119,184,56,9,185,51,170,658,70,328,1,3,467,321,61],"tags":[2632,2744,2697,2762,2636,2763,2631,2748,3231,5,2906,3041,2899,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826"}],"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=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}