5 States (And One City) Ready to Legalize Marijuana

[riversedge]

Good summary.


[link:http://wallstcheatsheet.com/politics/5-states-and-one-city-ready-to-legalize-marijuana.html/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=feed_politics_desktop&ref=OB|


5 States (And One City) Ready to Legalize Marijuana
Sam Becker Google+ Twitter | More Articles
August 17, 2014


......Many people are still struggling with the concept of legalized marijuana. For decades and generations, Americans grew accustomed to knowing marijuana as a powerful and dangerous drug — one that could lead to deaths and criminal behavior if it was allowed in their community. The past decade has really opened up a lot of people’s eyes to the facts, which almost wholly dismiss those worries. The medical marijuana communities in several states have also shown the immense benefits cannabis can have for the sick, which is one of many factors that have led to a seismic shift in public opinion regarding marijuana legalization.

As time marches forward, more states are preparing for coming marijuana legalization initiatives, either derived from state legislators or from citizens themselves. A few states have gotten close in the past, but so far only Colorado and Washington have been able to pull through. That doesn’t mean that several others aren’t on the cusp, however.

Here are six states that are the closest to legalizing marijuana for recreational use in the near future, hot on the heels of Washington and Colorado.

1. Oregon

Perhaps the state that was the closest to becoming the third to end prohibition is Oregon, Washington’s neighbor in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon has a reputation for being a hippy haven of sorts, although that stereotype really only holds true in a few select cities, like Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis. Despite the conservative-lean of most of the remainder of the state, Oregon still came very close to legalizing cannabis in 2012, but voters turned down a measure that would have probably done more harm than good..............

Read more: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/politics/5-states-and-one-city-ready-to-legalize-marijuana.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3BOCCIMvr

[riversedge]

1. OR, CA, Alaska, Hawaii

are listed as next in line. Interesting--the entire West Coast

[Regrell]

2. Sure hope so.

Medical MJ is not ideal -- . Certain dispensaries actually opposed CA's Prop 19 because they knew prices would go down. It's somewhat of a no-man's, keeping prices high enough that it's still an attractive thing to grow illegally, and we have many instances of gangs planting in national parks in CA.

Hopefully, widespread legalization will lead to a bloom of smaller, high-quality "boutique" growers, personal use growers, and large-scale "Budweiser of Bud" size growers that will offer a variety of products across the price spectrum, and disincentivize illegal growers on public land.

[pipoman]

4. Legalization in Colorado is bringing

Transparency in the supply chain. Oregon was one of the last states to re-criminalize upon demands from the feds back in the late 70's and early 80's, as was AK.

One issue that will ultimately be addressed is the edibles market. Also better standards for labeling and inspection of edibles makers.

[Eleanors38]

6. The Supremes of AK ruled home use legal 20+ yrs ago...

But a ballot measure was used to re-criminalize. The research I did revealed a culture war between the "old Alaska" of do-your-thing libertarianism, and the new fundamentalist/hard right people up from Texas, chasing the oil boom. Frankly, the MPP has really set the stage for a state-by-state strategy using the "lotto" method: You don't need all the states, or even a dozen. Get a few of the bigger ones, and the house of cards comes down. Florida has med-marijuana on the ballot, which could be a precursor for full legalization & regulation. If Florida goes legal, game-set-match.

And ultimately it must be legalization, not de-criminalization, as this leaves the corrupt and abusive remnants of prohibitionism in place, and LEOs will Continue devoting resources to busting traffickers. And who are "traffickers?" A-n-n-n-n-n-y one the feds, et al say.

[Regrell]

8. I am not a fan of edibles in general.

In order of preference: vaporizing, smoking, tinctures/oils, edibles.

I understand that there are people with medical conditions that make edibles a good choice, although I still believe that properly prepared tinctures are better because dosing is more accurate and effects kick in longer. The main problem with vaping is that the equipment is costly, although one would hope that legalization would spur insurance carriers to start covering this stuff.

I'm all for edibles getting a lot of oversight. One really great way to turn the public off of MMJ is to let them get their hands on a chocolate bar that has 8+ doses in it, as we saw with a certain media personality lately. I still don't see the logic there. One cupcake/lollipop/brownie/chocolate should = one dose. Why not just use a tincture if you're going to ingest the very tiniest of nibbles? Why set people up for a miserable 10+ hr experience? Or in my case, why force oneself to resist the rest of an otherwise tasty brownie when munchies arrive?

[pipoman]

9. My only objection to edibles

Is that they look exactly like common candy. It is just a matter of time before some bad press comes out about this. ..

[newfie11]

3. SD will be the last state, damn it. Nt

[RiffRandell]

5. Mine too...they wouldn't even legalize the oil to help prevent seizures

in severely disabled kids...GA.

[Eleanors38]

7. But GA has lotto. Because they didn't want $ going

to goddam Florida. That's the strategy MPP has: get a few key states and that phony-baloney morality & culture war yields to tax revenues.

[raven mad]

10. Alaska will ROCK that referendum -

Personal use (and growing for same) is decriminalized here - but let's do it right this time!