{"id":930,"date":"2012-11-08T08:42:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T08:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/?p=20382"},"modified":"2012-11-08T08:42:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T08:42:41","slug":"game-changers-after-historic-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/game-changers-after-historic-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Changers After Historic Election"},"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\/game-changers-after-historic-election\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"305\" height=\"165\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/voters.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"voters\" title=\"voters\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-20383\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/game-changers-after-historic-election\/attachment\/voters\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-20383\" title=\"voters\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/voters-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>There were many highlights from Tuesday\u2019s election.\u00a0 Obviously the headlines are focusing on President Barack Obama\u2019s re-election which came by <a href=\"http:\/\/elections.nytimes.com\/2012\/results\/president\" target=\"_blank\">dominating the electoral college<\/a>.\u00a0 However the President won a much slimmer popular vote victory.\u00a0 There were also tremendous victories for the LGBT community and anyone who supports equal protection.\u00a0 Minnesota residents voted against outlawing same sex marriage Maine and Maryland passed legislation allowing the unions.\u00a0 Other stories include the fact that the majorities in the House (Republican controlled) and the Senate (Democratically controlled) stayed the same, with the exception of a few seats shifting.\u00a0 Another victory for the people was the<a href=\"http:\/\/openchannel.nbcnews.com\/_news\/2012\/11\/08\/15007504-karl-roves-election-nightmare-super-pacs-spending-was-nearly-for-naught?lite\" target=\"_blank\"> apparent failure of the Super PACS<\/a>(outside political groups with no limits to how much they can spend) to impact the election.\u00a0 Perhaps there will be a few less advertisements in 2016 or for the 2014 midterm elections, though that is likely wishful thinking.<\/p>\n<p>In the world of marijuana reform, America saw a true game changing events.\u00a0 Massachusetts has now become <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881\" target=\"_blank\">the 18<sup>th<\/sup> state<\/a> to pass medical marijuana legislation.\u00a0 The list almost grew to 19 but the ballot initiative narrowly failed(51-49%).\u00a0 However, activists should be pleased as a narrow defeat shows even the deep south is changing and is receptive to marijuana reform.\u00a0 What is even more striking is that Colorado and Washington State voters have passed an initiative that will regulate, tax, and distribute recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Although the legalization in Colorado and Washington State does not end the conflict with the federal government, it does provide even more legitimacy for legalized marijuana.\u00a0 Now there will be tighter regulation and greater tax revenues collected from marijuana sales.\u00a0 If federal agents intervene, they now will have to compromise local economies and infringe on state laws.\u00a0 They will have to take marijuana from safe and regulated environments and return it to street dealers.\u00a0 Additionally, we are fresh off of a major statement by the people and while the feds have not respected our will previously, the writing on the wall is becoming more and more apparent.\u00a0 All over this country the people want to see a different approach toward regulating marijuana, and the old system is simply obsolete.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully the election cycle is finally over.\u00a0 It may be instinctive and easy to take a cynical outlook on what occurred but we should all be encouraged by the fact that the biggest changes in this country came directly from the hard work of the people and groups such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.regulatemarijuana.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol<\/a> and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newapproachwa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> New Approach Washington<\/a> .\u00a0 Ballot initiatives have produced same sex marriage equality and common sense marijuana reform. \u00a0The 2012 election was historic and will set the stage for even more states to return rights back to the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"305\" height=\"165\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/voters.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"voters\" title=\"voters\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-20383\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/game-changers-after-historic-election\/attachment\/voters\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-20383\" title=\"voters\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/voters-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>There were many highlights from Tuesday\u2019s election.\u00a0 Obviously the headlines are focusing on President Barack Obama\u2019s re-election which came by <a href=\"http:\/\/elections.nytimes.com\/2012\/results\/president\" target=\"_blank\">dominating the electoral college<\/a>.\u00a0 However the President won a much slimmer popular vote victory.\u00a0 There were also tremendous victories for the LGBT community and anyone who supports equal protection.\u00a0 Minnesota residents voted against outlawing same sex marriage Maine and Maryland passed legislation allowing the unions.\u00a0 Other stories include the fact that the majorities in the House (Republican controlled) and the Senate (Democratically controlled) stayed the same, with the exception of a few seats shifting.\u00a0 Another victory for the people was the<a href=\"http:\/\/openchannel.nbcnews.com\/_news\/2012\/11\/08\/15007504-karl-roves-election-nightmare-super-pacs-spending-was-nearly-for-naught?lite\" target=\"_blank\"> apparent failure of the Super PACS<\/a>(outside political groups with no limits to how much they can spend) to impact the election.\u00a0 Perhaps there will be a few less advertisements in 2016 or for the 2014 midterm elections, though that is likely wishful thinking.<\/p>\n<p>In the world of marijuana reform, America saw a true game changing events.\u00a0 Massachusetts has now become <a href=\"http:\/\/medicalmarijuana.procon.org\/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881\" target=\"_blank\">the 18<sup>th<\/sup> state<\/a> to pass medical marijuana legislation.\u00a0 The list almost grew to 19 but the ballot initiative narrowly failed(51-49%).\u00a0 However, activists should be pleased as a narrow defeat shows even the deep south is changing and is receptive to marijuana reform.\u00a0 What is even more striking is that Colorado and Washington State voters have passed an initiative that will regulate, tax, and distribute recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Although the legalization in Colorado and Washington State does not end the conflict with the federal government, it does provide even more legitimacy for legalized marijuana.\u00a0 Now there will be tighter regulation and greater tax revenues collected from marijuana sales.\u00a0 If federal agents intervene, they now will have to compromise local economies and infringe on state laws.\u00a0 They will have to take marijuana from safe and regulated environments and return it to street dealers.\u00a0 Additionally, we are fresh off of a major statement by the people and while the feds have not respected our will previously, the writing on the wall is becoming more and more apparent.\u00a0 All over this country the people want to see a different approach toward regulating marijuana, and the old system is simply obsolete.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully the election cycle is finally over.\u00a0 It may be instinctive and easy to take a cynical outlook on what occurred but we should all be encouraged by the fact that the biggest changes in this country came directly from the hard work of the people and groups such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.regulatemarijuana.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol<\/a> and<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newapproachwa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"> New Approach Washington<\/a> .\u00a0 Ballot initiatives have produced same sex marriage equality and common sense marijuana reform. \u00a0The 2012 election was historic and will set the stage for even more states to return rights back to the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,222,189,52,166,796,799,46,56,9,51,70,281,328,797,798,1,3,173,61],"tags":[2871,2800,2767,2632,2744,3369,3372,2629,2636,2631,5,2859,2906,3370,3371,2751,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930"}],"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=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}