Marijuana reform initiatives on the ballot in 2016 - Official results thread

[jct74]

These are all the marijuana reform initiatives that made it on the ballot for 2016. I'll try to keep this thread updated with news about the various initiatives and will post the official results here. Feel free to add your own news or discussion to the thread.



-------------------------------- Marijuana legalization --------------------------------


Arizona Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (Proposition 205)

The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act allows adults twenty-one years of age and older to possess and to privately consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana (up to one ounce of marijuana flower, up to five grams of marijuana concentrate, and/or the harvest from up to six plants); it creates a system in which licensed businesses can produce and sell marijuana; establishes a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to regulate the cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana; and provides local governments with the authority to regulate and limit marijuana businesses. The Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit that sought to prohibit the measure from going before voters.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_Marijuana_Legalization,_Proposition_205_(2 016)

campaign website:
https://www.regulatemarijuanainarizona.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/az_yeson205.jpg



California Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Proposition 64)

Passage of the measure would permit adults to legally grow (up to six plants) and possess personal use quantities of cannabis (up to one ounce of flower and/or up to eight grams of concentrate) while also licensing commercial cannabis production and retail sales. The measure prohibits localities from taking actions to infringe upon adults' ability to possess and cultivate cannabis for non-commercial purposes. The initiative language specifies that it is not intended to "repeal, affect, restrict, or preempt … laws pertaining to the Compassionate Use Act of 1996." The AUMA is endorsed by the ACLU of California, the California Democratic Party, the California Medical Association, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California NAACP, the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and NORML. Seventy-one percent of likely California voters say that they are leaning toward voting 'yes' on Proposition 64, according to a September 2016 California Counts Survey.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_ (2016)

campaign website:
http://www.yeson64.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/auma.png



Maine Marijuana Legalization Act (Question 1)

If enacted by voters in November, the measure would allow adults to legally possess up to two and one-half ounces of marijuana and to cultivate marijuana (up to six mature plants and the entire yields of said plants) for their own personal use. The measure would also establish licensing for the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis. Retail sales of cannabis would be subject to a ten percent sales tax. Non-commercial transactions and/or retail sales involving medical cannabis would not be subject to taxation.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_1_(2016)

campaign website:
https://www.regulatemaine.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/maine_regulate.jpg



Massachusetts Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act (Question 4)

The initiative allows adults 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana outside of their residences and up to 10 ounces of marijuana in an enclosed, locked space within their residences, which mimics the current in-residence allowance established by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for medical marijuana patients. It allows adults 21 years of age and older to grow up to six marijuana plants in an enclosed, locked space within their residences and possess the marijuana produced by those plants in the location where it was grown.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_4_( 2016)

campaign website:
https://www.regulatemassachusetts.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/ma_yeson4.jpg



Nevada Marijuana Legalization Initiative (Question 2)

The ballot language permits adults to possess and grow personal use quantities of cannabis (up to one ounce and/or six plants) for non-commercial purposes. The measure also regulates and taxes the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis. It states, "The People of the State of Nevada find and declare that the use of marijuana should be legal for persons 21 years of age or older, and its cultivation and sale should be regulated similar to other businesses."

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Nevada_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_2_(2016)

campaign website:
https://www.regulatemarijuanainnevada.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/regulate_nevada.jpg




-------------------------------- Medical marijuana --------------------------------


Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act (Issue 7)
Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 (Issue 6)

The 2016 Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act establishes a statewide program for the licensed production, analytic testing, and distribution of medicinal cannabis. Under the program, patients diagnosed by a physician with one of over 50 qualifying conditions may obtain cannabis from one of up to 38 licensed non-profit care centers. Qualified patients who do not have a center operating in their vicinity will be permitted to obtain a 'hardship certificate' in order to cultivate their own medicine at home. 2016 polling compiled by Public Opinion Strategies finds that 68 percent of voters explicitly support the language of the Act. Presently, opponents of the measure are asking the state Supreme Court to block the measure.

A competing, slightly more narrow medical cannabis measure, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, has also qualified for the ballot as Issue 6. The measure does not permit home cultivation of marijuana and also provides fewer qualifying conditions for which cannabis therapy may be recommended. A summary of the constitutional amendment is here.

If both initiatives receive majority approval, the one with the most "yes" votes will supersede the other.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_Medical_Cannabis_Statute,_Issue_7_(2016)
https://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_Medical_Marijuana,_Issue_6_(2016)

campaign website (Issue 7):
http://www.arcompassion.com/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/arkansas_compassion.jpg



Florida Use of Marijuana For Debilitating Conditions (Amendment 2)

Passage of the amendment would permit qualified patients to possess and obtain cannabis from state-licensed facilities. According to a recent statewide poll, 70 percent of Florida voters say that they support the passage of the amendment. According to Florida law, 60 percent of voters must approve a constitutional amendment in order for it to become law. In November 2014, Floridians narrowly rejected a similar amendment, which received 58 percent of the vote.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Medical_Marijuana_Legalization,_Amendment_ 2_(2016)

campaign website:
http://www.unitedforcare.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/fl_yeson2.jpg



Montana Medical Marijuana Initiative (I-182)

I-182 repeals the limit of three patients for each licensed provider, and allows providers to hire employees to cultivate, dispense, and transport medical marijuana. I-182 repeals the requirement that physicians who provide certifications for 25 or more patients annually be referred to the board of medical examiners. I-182 removes the authority of law enforcement to conduct unannounced inspections of medical marijuana facilities, and requires annual inspections by the state.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/Montana_Medical_Marijuana_Initiative,_I-182_(2016)

campaign website:
http://www.yeson182.org/

http://norml.org/images/takeaction/yesoni182.jpg



North Dakota Compassionate Care Act (Initiated Statutory Measure 5)

The North Dakota Compassionate Care 2016 act permits patients with an eligible debilitating condition to possess and obtain marijuana (up to three ounces) and marijuana-specific preparations under a doctor's written certification. The measure also establishes a statewide regulatory system for the creation of licensed 'compassionate care centers.' Patients (or their caregivers) who do not live in close proximity to such centers may cultivate up to eight marijuana plants in an enclosed, locked facility.

ballotpedia:
https://ballotpedia.org/North_Dakota_Medical_Marijuana_Legalization,_Initi ated_Statutory_Measure_5_(2016)

campaign website:
http://www.ndmedcan.com/

http://norml.org/images/takeAction/nd_medical.jpg

http://norml.org/election-2016


If anyone wants to look back at the initiatives for 2012 (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?386593-Marijuana-reform-initiatives-on-the-ballot-in-2012-Official-Results-Thread) and 2014 (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?460807-Marijuana-reform-initiatives-on-the-ballot-in-2014-Official-Results-Thread), I made a similar thread for those too.

[jct74]

there was a thread on this a few days ago but in case anyone missed it...



A maker of deadly painkillers is bankrolling the opposition to legal marijuana in Arizona

By Christopher Ingraham
September 9, 2016

The campaign against marijuana legalization in Arizona received a major infusion of cash last week from a synthetic cannabis drugmaker that has been investigated for alleged improper marketing of a highly addictive prescription painkiller, according to campaign finance reports.

The $500,000 donation from Insys Therapeutics, based in Chandler, Ariz., amounts to more than one-third of all money raised by Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the group opposing legalization. It's one of the largest single contributions to any anti-legalization campaign ever, according to campaign finance records maintained by ballotpedia.com.

The cash infusion could even the playing field in an arena where legalization supporters have traditionally outspent opponents. Until the Insys donation, legalization supporters in Arizona had out-fundraised opponents by about 3-to-1. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has raised more than $3 million, much of it from the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group working to change marijuana laws.

Insys has developed a drug based on a synthetic version of marijuana's active ingredient, THC. Called Syndros, the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July for treatment of AIDS and cancer patients' symptoms. It is awaiting scheduling by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Insys also manufactures the deadly painkiller Subsys fentanyl. The company is facing state and federal investigations, as well as a shareholder lawsuit, over allegations that it improperly marketed the drug to doctors in an effort to boost sales.

...

read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/09/a-maker-of-deadly-painkillers-is-bankrolling-the-opposition-to-legal-marijuana-in-arizona/
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/fentanyl-maker-donates-big-to-campaign-opposing-pot-legalization



Pharma Company Funding Anti-Pot Fight Worried About Losing Business, Filings Show

Lee Fang
Sep. 12 2016

PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVES WHO recently made a major donation to an anti-marijuana legalization campaign claimed they were doing so out of concern for the safety of children — but their investor filings reveal that pot poses a direct threat to their plans to cash in on a synthetic cannabis product they have developed.

...

Insys is currently developing a product called the Dronabinol Oral Solution, a drug that uses a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to alleviate chemotherapy-caused nausea and vomiting. In an early filing related to the dronabinol drug, assessing market concerns and competition, Insys filed a disclosure statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating plainly that legal marijuana is a direct threat to their product line:


Legalization of marijuana or non-synthetic cannabinoids in the United States could significantly limit the commercial success of any dronabinol product candidate. … If marijuana or non-synthetic cannabinoids were legalized in the United States, the market for dronabinol product sales would likely be significantly reduced and our ability to generate revenue and our business prospects would be materially adversely affected.

...

read more:
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/12/pharma-opioid-marijuana/

[jct74]

alcohol industry getting involved too



Alcohol Industry Bankrolls Fight Against Legal Pot in Battle of the Buzz

Lee Fang
Sep. 14 2016

THE FIGHT AGAINST legalized pot is being heavily bankrolled by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies, terrified that they might lose market share.

On the heels of a filing last week that revealed that a synthetic cannabis company is financing the opposition to legal marijuana in Arizona comes a new disclosure this week that a beer industry group made one of the largest donations to an organization set up to defeat legalization in Massachusetts.

The Beer Distributors PAC, an affiliate that represents 16 beer-distribution companies in Massachusetts, gave $25,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, tying it for third place among the largest contributors to the anti-pot organization.

William A. Kelley, the president of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts, did not respond to a request for comment, but his organization’s decision to oppose legalization is hardly unique in the alcohol industry.

In Arizona, one of the five states with marijuana legalization ballot measures this November, the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association donated $10,000 to a group opposing legalization. In 2010, the last time California considered marijuana legalization, another alcoholic beverage distribution group provided financing to a law enforcement-backed campaign to defeat legalization.

...

read more:
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/14/beer-pot-ballot/

[John F Kennedy III]

I hope all the bills pass.

[jct74]

Adelson is back, doesn't want any of the senior citizens in Florida to find some relief. I wonder if he's dumping any into the Nevada anti-legalization campaign as well.



Sheldon Adelson Dumps $1 Million into Anti-Medical Marijuana Campaign

By ALLISON NIELSEN
September 16, 2016

Billionaire casino founder Sheldon Adelson has given another $1 million to the campaign against medical marijuana in Florida, recent records from the Florida Divisions of Elections show.

Adelson gave $1 million to the Drug Free Florida committee between Sept. 3 and Sept. 9.

Drug Free Florida/Vote No on 2 is the campaign actively working against Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment which would legalize medical marijuana for Floridians with “debilitating” medical conditions like cancer, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS and glaucoma.

Adelson, a kingpin Republican fundraiser, has been a strong supporter of the anti-medical marijuana campaign. He contributed a colossal amount of money -- to the tune of $5.5 million -- to the Drug Free Florida committee in 2014 when it waged war against the medical marijuana amendment the first time it came to Florida ballots.

The first time medical marijuana hit ballots in Florida, it was not successful. Medical marijuana fell short of the necessary 60 percent to pass, only receiving 58 percent of the vote.

This year, the bulk of the money from Drug Free Florida has come from large contributors like Adelson. Other backers have included Mel Sembler, Publix heiress Carol Jenkins and Al Hoffman, Jr.

...

read more:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/sheldon-adelson-dumps-1-million-anti-medical-marijuana-campaign

[dannno]

Adelson is back, doesn't want any of the senior citizens in Florida to find some relief. I wonder if he's dumping any into the Nevada anti-legalization campaign.




read more:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/sheldon-adelson-dumps-1-million-anti-medical-marijuana-campaign

lol.. it's sorta nice knowing that douchebag is wasting all this money.. the most he can do is cause these bills to languish for about an election cycle maybe before they pass anyway.

[H. E. Panqui]

...very interesting, [near cut-throat] politics in maine on the upcoming ballot measure...many of the people i know within the fairly large and politically well-connected 'medical marijuana community' in maine are voting and urging others to vote 'no' on this measure....

...many say it's because the bill is 'poorly written' etc...but i sense a little fear from 'the marijuana medallion holder$' that this measure will put more than a little 'price pressure' on their ca$h cow... ;)

[jct74]

Here's another top funder on the anti-legalization side in 2016, some crazy bitch art teacher.



Top Anti-Legalization Funder Says Marijuana Causes Terrorism

BY TOM ANGELL
SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2016

Prohibitionists just revealed that a retired professor is bankrolling their efforts to defeat marijuana legalization ballot measures this year to the tune of more than $1.3 million.

SAM Action, the advocacy arm of the nonprofit Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in campaign finance documents filed Friday in both California and Massachusetts that Julie Schauer, a former art teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, has given the group at least $1,389,000 this year.

A Marijuana.com investigation reveals that Schauer has a history of making alarmist claims about marijuana.

...

The new contributions from Schauer, who previously donated $50,000 to help defeat a 2010 attempt to end marijuana prohibition in California, make her the biggest anti-legalization funder so far this election cycle.

...

read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/09/top-anti-legalization-funder-says-marijuana-causes-terrorism/

[dannno]

...very interesting, [near cut-throat] politics in maine on the upcoming ballot measure...many of the people i know within the fairly large and politically well-connected 'medical marijuana community' in maine are voting and urging others to vote 'no' on this measure....

...many say it's because the bill is 'poorly written' etc...but i sense a little fear from 'the marijuana medallion holder$' that this measure will put more than a little 'price pressure' on their ca$h cow... ;)

There are two options here..

On the one hand what you say makes sense, the guys who are currently in the industry want to continue the way things are because things are going well for them.

on the other hand, I have a hard time believing that governments are going to write "good" bills to legalize cannabis - they could have some legitimate complaints and think some of the regulations may cause the movement to go backwards.

California voted against a legalization bill 2010 and many people believe that it failed because a large contingent of cannabis consumers and business people voted against it - it was a pretty bad bill. Now we have a better bill, I think, still not great, but better than the last one and most people are mostly supportive.

[dannno]

Here's another top funder on the anti-legalization side in 2016, some crazy bitch art teacher.

A former art teacher at a community college has $1.3 million to give away? She must be hot :confused:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_q3NrEr8DU

[tommyrp12]

In MA all the typical tyrants are against it.

Campaign for a Safe & Healthy Massachusetts is the primary opposition group.

Opponents

Individuals
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_4_( 2016)

To piss off the above mentioned I will gladly vote in favor of question 4 this election cycle. It will be interesting if Maura will reinterpret this law to her liking like the AWB (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?498278-AR-15-Banned-in-Massachusetts).

[jct74]

A former art teacher at a community college has $1.3 million to give away? She must be hot :confused:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_q3NrEr8DU

Wow, I never knew there was a Simpsons episode about medical marijuana before. I found a wikipedia entry for it but wasn't able to find the whole thing on youtube unfortunately. I'd like to watch it some time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_at_Burnsie%27s

[jct74]

Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle have both endorsed Proposition 64 in the past week. Both papers were opposed to Proposition 19 in 2010.



Editorial: It's time to legalize and regulate marijuana in California. Yes on Proposition 64.

The Times Editorial Board
September 16, 2016

Six years ago California voters were asked to make recreational marijuana legal under state law and they declined to do so. But the close decision — 46% voted “yes” on Proposition 19 — suggested that the battle was not yet over. At that time, The Times opposed Proposition 19 not because legalization was necessarily a bad idea, but because it was a poorly drafted mess that would have created a regulatory nightmare.

In the years since, a lot has changed. Four states, starting with Colorado and Washington, have legalized adult recreational use, without major problems. Half of the states now allow medical marijuana. Canada is working on legislation to legalize adult use next year. And Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have suggested that, if elected, they wouldn’t use the federal prohibition against marijuana to undermine state legalization efforts.

There has also been a huge shift in thinking on drug policy, as more people question the effect of the decades-long war on drugs on law enforcement expenditures, overcrowded prisons, marginalized communities and violent drug cartels. In the case of marijuana, there is growing support for the argument that the cost of enforcing prohibition is too great and delivers too few benefits.

In November, Californians will again consider whether to legalize pot, this time with Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Voters will have to ask themselves whether the time has come to treat marijuana less like heroin and more like alcohol — as a regulated but acceptable product for adult use. Do the risks of legalization outweigh the costs of prohibition? Does Proposition 64 strike the right balance between allowing adult Californians to make their own recreational choices and protecting their health and safety? Does the measure put cannabis-industry profits ahead of public health? What does it mean that marijuana will be legal under California law but still illegal under federal law?

On balance, the proposition deserves a “yes” vote. It is ultimately better for public health, for law and order and for society if marijuana is a legal, regulated and controlled product for adults. Proposition 64 — while not perfect — offers a logical, pragmatic approach to legalization that also would give lawmakers and regulators the flexibility to change the law to address the inevitable unintended consequences.

...

read more:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-proposition-64-20160918-snap-story.html




Chronicle recommends: Legalize marijuana Yes on Prop. 64

San Francisco Chronicle
September 15, 2016

Six years ago, California voters wisely rejected Proposition 19, crafted by determined marijuana advocates with far too little regard for the need to regulate and constrain its proliferation. Some of its elements were simply nonsensical: such as a nondiscrimination clause that would have prevented employers from banning pot smoking during breaks, laws that would have established a right to grow 5-by-5 plots that could not be usurped by local ordinances and a provision that allowed passengers to smoke in a moving vehicle. It included no state taxation.

Its defeat gave those who recognize that Prohibition is a failure — but want a more rational and responsible approach to legalization — a chance to study the issue, assess the experience of other states and come up with an initiative that controls, not promotes, cultivation and sale of the drug.

They have achieved that balance in Proposition 64.

...

Prop. 64 would bring discipline and oversight to an industry that is operating in the shadows, to the detriment of public health, the environment and public safety. Vote yes on 64.

read more:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Chronicle-recommends-Legalize-marijuana-Yes-on-9223733.php

[jct74]

Meanwhile, at the newspaper that Sheldon Adelson recently bought out (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?496671-Newspaper-bought-by-Sheldon-Adelson-does-complete-reversal-on-marijuana-legalization)... boogity-boogity!



EDITORIAL: ‘A false assumption’

Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 19, 2016 - 9:00pm

The lazy stoner has a celebrated niche in Hollywood, embodied in the likes of Jeff Spicoli, Harold and Kumar, Pedro de Pacas and “the Dude.” Turns out, though, these comedic portrayals often mimic the unfortunate reality of heavy pot smokers.

As researchers delve deeper into the consequences of marijuana use, they are finding that the drug saps smokers of drive and motivation.

In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Susan Pinker in her Mind &Matter column details studies conducted by Canadian researchers who found that rats injected with the active ingredient in marijuana preferred taking the easy route with minimal reward to solving a tougher problem with a more fruitful bounty.

“Whether they were workers or slackers to begin with, even small amounts of THC made them all slackers,” Catharine Winstanley, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, told Ms. Pinker.

...

Legalizing dope in the Silver State may be a boon for White Castle and a slew of well-connected insiders who will walk away with lucrative retail licenses. Not so much for those whose ambition and enterprise will evaporate in a cloud of smoke.

read more:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-false-assumption



Sucks cuz they actually used to be very pro-legalization.

[jct74]

Two new polls in California each show 60% support.


779455583753646082

[John F Kennedy III]

Two new polls in California each show 60% support.


779455583753646082

Hopefully actual voting ends up being 70%. What is needed to pass? 50.1%? I imagine the 40% against are mostly religious people.

[dannno]

Hopefully actual voting ends up being 70%. What is needed to pass? 50.1%? I imagine the 40% against are mostly religious people.

There are people in and who support the "cottage" cannabis industry who are opposing the measure because like last time they think it will turn the selling and growing over to corporate interests - there is some confusion over how exactly the new model is going to work. They were planning on making it similar to the alcohol industry where you have brewers, distributors and retailers (growers, distributors, retailers) - but this article is claiming that Prop 64 has some language that would be helpful for smaller "cottage" industry growers and suppliers that would not place them under the same stringent regulations:

http://theleafonline.com/c/business/2016/09/prop-64-a-boon-to-small-cannabis-growers/

[jct74]

Hopefully actual voting ends up being 70%. What is needed to pass? 50.1%? I imagine the 40% against are mostly religious people.

I'm pretty sure the only state mentioned in OP that requires more than 50% is Florida, which requires a 60% vote to pass.



Speaking of Florida, here's what Sheldon Adelson is doing with his million bucks that he recently donated, trying to scare the shit out of the voters there.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olPsWj99IKA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaAYc3D8VlI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snZUnIcaxp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTHvUoY1pg

[jct74]

more


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0q_vcm_tPs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7xl8EVGAB4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIcXq8S22E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRUwBPuwH8

[jct74]

looking good in Maine according to the most recent poll (53% support, 38% oppose)



Most Mainers favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use, poll finds
Southern and coastal residents and those under 50 are driving the support for the ballot question.

BY KEVIN MILLER
September 26, 2016

A majority of Maine voters favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use, according to a new Portland Press Herald poll showing a groundswell of support among residents under age 50 and among those living in southern or coastal areas.

Roughly 53 percent of respondents in the newspaper’s statewide survey indicated they support a November ballot question that would add Maine to the growing list of states where marijuana is legal for adults. By comparison, 38 percent of participants opposed marijuana legalization – Question 1 on the November ballot – and 10 percent were undecided.

More than 60 percent of poll participants reported having tried marijuana at some point in their lives.

The poll of 505 likely voters was conducted for the newspaper by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center between Sept. 15 and 20. The survey has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.

...

read more:
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/09/26/most-mainers-favor-legalizing-marijuana-poll-finds/

[Keith and stuff]

Since I moved to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project, I'm most excited about Maine and Mass passing it. New England and the West Coast have been leading the charge on this issues, as least with polls. Though, I assume the medical marijuana ballot issues are the most likely to pass since the vast majority of voters support that issue, and it mostly is designed to help seniors, vets, and people with cancer, all groups almost everyone claims to support.

That said, CA passing it would have the most impact. Plus, it would help CA with it's always pathetic rating on the Freedom in the 50 States report :)

[Keith and stuff]

I'm pretty sure the only state mentioned in OP that requires more than 50% is Florida, which requires a 60% vote to pass.



Speaking of Florida, here's what Sheldon Adelson is doing with his million bucks that he recently donated, trying to scare the $#@! out of the voters there.


These commercials were made by someone that is um, um, confused. Is it up to 5,000 medical cannabis locations or 2,000? Is it up to 20 times stronger or 10 times stronger than it once was? Unfortunately, the voters won't see the commercials back to back like that. Thank you for your service!

[jct74]

new poll on Massachusetts marijuana legalization - 53% support, 40% oppose


According to the new WBZ-TV, WBZ NewsRadio, UMass Amherst Poll poll of 700 likely Massachusetts voters (margin of error +/-4.3%), Question 4 on the November ballot – “An initiative petition for a law relative to the regulation and taxation of marijuana” – which would legalize recreational use of pot, enjoys a 53-to-40 percent lead, with seven-percent still unsure.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/09/28/marijuana-ballot-question-4-pot-legalization-massachusetts-wbz-umass-poll/




WBUR poll earlier this month showed 50-45 lead
http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/09/13/wbur-ballot-question-poll

[jct74]

latest poll on Nevada marijuana legalization - 53% support, 39% oppose



KTNV/RASMUSSEN POLL: Voters favor legalizing recreational pot, plan to reorganize school district

Riley Snyder
Sep 21, 2016


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ82XTaqIT0


A new KTNV-TV 13 Action News/Rasmussen Reports poll finds a majority of Nevada voters favor a ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana use and support a new redistricting plan for the Clark County School District.

The poll of 800 likely voters found a 53 to 39 percent margin of support for legalizing recreational marijuana, which will be on the November ballot as Question 2.

Polling results show modest increases in support for the ballot initiative since a July KTNV-TV 13 Action News/Rasmussen Reports poll indicated a 50 to 41 split in favor of legalizing recreational use of marijuana. Rasmussen polls historically tilt Republican, according to a FiveThirtyEight ranking of polling groups.

...

http://www.ktnv.com/news/political/ktnvrasmussen-poll-voters-favor-legalizing-recreational-pot-plan-to-reorganize-school-district





BTW - don't legalize marijuana in Nevada or your kids may die.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQgkSyhOTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev_FrCzlGQc

[Lucille]

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-marijuana-legalization-favored-by-majority-in-state-new-poll-shows-8624219


A recent poll, sponsored by the Arizona Republic and Arizona State University's Morrison Institute of Public Policy and the school's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, reveals that 50 percent of voters favor Prop 205, while 39.9 percent oppose it, and 10.2 percent are undecided.

It's the first poll in which people were asked specifically about the upcoming proposition that showed majority support. A poll released by OH Predictive Insights on September 6 showed the measure losing 51 percent to 40 percent, with 9 percent undecided.

Even with the new poll, it appears the election will be a nail biter.

I've seen a few big red NO on 205 signs around. I don't recall seeing any YES on 205 signs yet.

[jct74]

...

BTW - don't legalize marijuana in Nevada or your kids may die.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQgkSyhOTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev_FrCzlGQc


I guess these ridiculous TV ads in Nevada are not having their desired effect on the public. New Suffolk poll shows marijuana legalization support at 57%, with only 33% opposed. Same polling organization in mid-August showed a lead of only 48-43 (http://www.suffolk.edu/news/67217.php), so it appears lead has increased significantly recently. Sheldon Adelson must be shitting his Depends right now. :D

http://www.suffolk.edu/news/67667.php
http://www.suffolk.edu/documents/SUPRC/9_30_2016_marginals.pdf

[Keith and stuff]

new poll on Massachusetts marijuana legalization - 53% support, 40% oppose



http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/09/28/marijuana-ballot-question-4-pot-legalization-massachusetts-wbz-umass-poll/




WBUR poll earlier this month showed 50-45 lead
http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/09/13/wbur-ballot-question-poll

I listened to the NPR debate on this yesterday. Apparently, CO was opt-in and this is opt-out, but only if there is a local referendum on the issue, and the voters of the town vote to opt-out. So this is potentially substantially better for freedom than the CO laws on the subject. MA already has the best decriminalization law in the nation, so I'm not surprised. Let's hope this passes.

[jct74]

looks like the marijuana reform movement has a new celebrity ally this election season :D



Justin Bieber Condemns Big Pharma For Blocking Medical Marijuana Legalization
“We all need to pay attention.”

Landess Kearns
10/05/2016

Medical marijuana advocates have a new ally ― and he’s tweeting his support to a massive audience.

Justin Bieber criticized pharmaceutical companies on Twitter Sunday to raise awareness of the industry’s attempts to block medical marijuana legislation.

“This is important,” the singer wrote. “I’m going to be talking more about this. We all need to pay attention.” And with 88.6 million followers, it’s safe to say he got some people to pay attention.

782683241211842560

The tweet links to an ATTN: video that concisely explains the fight between pharmaceutical companies and medical marijuana advocates.

“Drug companies are worried because marijuana is an alternative to painkillers,” the video says.

...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/justin-bieber-medical-marijuana_us_57f4569ae4b04c71d6f0cdb5?

[jct74]

New poll from Las Vegas Review-Journal shows legalization leading by only one point, 47 to 46.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/election-2016/nevada-pot-ballot-measure-too-close-call

I don't trust it though coming from Sheldon Adelson's newspaper, and two other recent polls showed a significant lead.


Also, new poll in Massachusetts shows Question 4 is leading 52-42.
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/10/wneu_poll_majority_of_voters_b.html



All five legalization initiatives are now leading by the way.

783034210709680128
783658747407151105

[jct74]

I like this new ad running in Arizona. Apparently opposition has been running some misleading ads.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZErDn4EUlw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZErDn4EUlw

[RonPaulIsGreat]

MAn,, I would commit but just got sum premo shit yo. Can't feel my face... Wow.. this aint grandpas bud... What that is??? Space weed man.

[tommyrp12]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKaRJ_urDmM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1VxnFZpmuY

Not bad. Not great either. I know the politicians, regulators and other recipients of tax money are drooling. But it is a tiny increase in freedom for small personal growers and smokers.

[AZJoe]

http://cdn.thewire.com/img/upload/2012/10/12/drug-spending-v-addiction.gif

[tommyrp12]

Boogity-Boogity. Reject freedom and become a social justice warrior.

MPHA Statement on Marijuana Ballot Initiative (Question*4) (https://mapublichealth.org/2016/10/06/mpha-statement-on-marijuana-ballot-initiative-question-4/?utm_source=October+Newsletter+2016&utm_campaign=August+2016+Newsletter&utm_medium=email)

https://mapublichealth.org/2016/10/06/mpha-statement-on-marijuana-ballot-initiative-question-4/?utm_source=October+Newsletter+2016&utm_campaign=August+2016+Newsletter&utm_medium=email


MPHA has evaluated the available research literature and listened to both proponents and opponents of the question. After careful study, MPHA has concluded that the ballot initiative does not contain sufficient public health protections and that the potential dangers far outweigh any potential benefits. *Further, we have found little evidence that this ballot question would have a substantive impact on the racial discrimination that has been a stain on our country’s criminal justice system for far too long. *MPHA urges voters to reject this ballot question and join us to support more meaningful criminal justice reform that will reverse the institutionalized discrimination in our drug policies and protect public health.

[Lucille]

785878575371067394


Foes of legalized marijuana are amassing a huge amount of cash in a last-minute bid to quash the measure.

The latest figures show Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy has so far collected more than $2.7 million. Most significant, more than $900,000 of that has come in the past three weeks as different polls have shown the fate of Proposition 205 could swing either way.

Whether any of that is having an effect remains to be seen.

The most recent survey, released Monday, shows 43 percent of those questioned in support and 47 percent opposed. That could leave the outcome up to the 10 percent who told OH Predictive Insights they had not made up their mind.

But what’s significant is that the same pollster, using the same methodology, had found Proposition 205 trailing by a larger margin of 40 to 51 percent just a month earlier.

Now comes the big fiscal push.

Less than a week ago the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry poured $498,000 into the anti-205 measure. That is more than four times as much as the business group had provided since the campaign started.

There’s also a new $115,000 donation from Virginia-based SAM Action, short for Smart Approach to Marijuana, a group that has opposed legalization efforts in many other states.

The pro-205 effort benefited from a $110,000 donation two weeks ago from Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps.

I've seen a few pro-205 signs and ads. This one aired recently, and made the point about how prohibition helps the cartels.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZErDn4EUlw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajJvN5U9kAE

[Lucille]

785882799181996032


If Arizona’s ballot measure passes, pot shops would soon arise in a place that has long been a center of drug smuggling. In cities such as Nogales, smugglers are seen almost daily scaling the border fence with backpacks of weed.

“This is a day-in and day-out fight,” said Col. Frank Milstead, head of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. “I can’t tell you that a day goes by that we don’t actually interdict somebody smuggling some sort of drug into the state.”

How drug cartels respond to legalization has been a focus of debate in Arizona.

Law enforcement leaders say the change will strengthen cartels, allowing them to infiltrate the legal pot market and driving them to sell more hard drugs. Advocates of legalization say it will undercut the cartels by eliminating a key segment of their business.

Carlos Alfaro, the deputy campaign manager for Proposition 205, says legalization in other states has already led to a drop in marijuana seizures by the Border Patrol.

From fiscal year 2011 to 2015, the number of seizures made by the agency nationwide fell by 39 percent. In the Tucson sector, at one point the busiest smuggling corridor in the nation, seizures fell by 28 percent, according to Border Patrol statistics.

“Now cartels have competition,” Alfaro said. “They have to compete with legitimate business in the U.S. with product that is more pure, with regulations on the shelf and prices.”
[...]
For now, cannabis remains the primary drug seized on the border, Beeson said.

All around the border, cartels hire lookouts who sit atop hills and mountains, watching for law enforcement activity. They disguise trucks under camouflage deep in the Arizona desert, stripping them of their insides and filling them top to bottom with drugs. Most recently, smugglers have turned to homemade cannons to launch giant loads of marijuana over the border fence.

A few weeks ago, authorities near the border found a 6-foot plastic-wrapped cylinder filled with 110 pounds of pot after hearing a loud boom, Milstead said. Detectives concluded that it had been launched by air cannon and landed about 250 yards from the border fence.

The region’s roads and highways are also peppered with Border Patrol checkpoints, where agents look for drugs and smugglers. Those checkpoints will remain even if pot is made legal.

That’s because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, which trumps state regulations. Border Patrol agents at checkpoints would seize marijuana from anyone who had it regardless of its legal status in the state, a spokesman said. But it’s unlikely they would detain anyone.
[...]
Local law enforcement officials say legal pot will present other obstacles, such as impaired drivers. They worry about traffic fatalities, which they say have gone up in Colorado as a result of marijuana, and they say that making drug arrests would be much harder because the smell of cannabis would no longer provide probable cause to search someone.

Retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Finn Selander, a proponent of legalization, agrees that crime organizations will turn to other drugs, but he said marijuana is their most lucrative moneymaker and legalization would still cripple them.

The possibility that cartels will turn to something else to sell is a given but a “lame excuse” to oppose legal pot, Selander said.

“That’s what organized crime is all about is to find something they can peddle,” he said.

[jct74]

Thanks Lucille. That's a lot of money the opposition is lining up in Arizona, I think it's going to be a real close one. Speaking of that, look who else is throwing in big bucks to maintain prohibition there and keep the profits flowing. Doesn't get much sleazier than this really.



Prison Food Company Funds Legal Marijuana Opposition

BY TOM ANGELL
OCTOBER 11TH, 2016

A company that makes money selling food to prisons is helping to bankroll the effort to defeat marijuana legalization, a review of new campaign finance records shows.

Services Group of America, whose subsidiary Food Services of America prepares meals for correctional facilities, gave $80,000 late last month to a campaign committee opposing the legal cannabis measure on Arizona’s November ballot.

Also giving big to keep cannabis prohibition on the books in Arizona is the state Chamber of Commerce, which dropped $498,000 into the campaign last week.

The new donations are on top of the $500,000 that opioid maker Insys Therapeutics gave in late August to oppose legalization in Arizona. The alcohol industry is on board, too: The Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association donated $10,000 earlier this year. And SAM Action, the campaign arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, contributed $115,000 last week.

But the support from Services Group of America in particular raises questions about the company’s interest in maintaining prohibition. If marijuana were legalized and fewer people were arrested, charged and sentenced to prison for it, there’d likely be fewer mouths behind bars for Food Services of America to feed.

...

read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/10/prison-food-company-funds-legal-marijuana-opposition/

[jct74]

also in Arizona...



Former DEA Agents Rally In Support Of Marijuana Legalization In Arizona
Because they believe law enforcement has more important things to do.

by Emily Tate
10/12/2016

Two unlikely proponents of marijuana legalization stopped by Arizona State University Wednesday to campaign on behalf of Proposition 205, the state’s initiative to legalize and regulate weed.

A pair of retired agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration encouraged some of ASU’s 80,000 college students to vote “yes” on Prop. 205. Their appearance was organized by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and timed to coincide with the beginning of early voting in the state.

The former special agents, Finn Selander and Michael Capasso, were on hand to speak to students and explain why they support an initiative that runs counter to their former careers as drug warriors.

“It was a huge success,” Capasso told The Huffington Post. “They were interested, and they liked my perspective — coming from the DEA. Most of the people I spoke to were thumbs-up on Prop. 205.”

...

read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/legalize-marijuana-arizona_us_57fe7c98e4b0e8c198a5794e



one of them appears in an ad



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3xsMJrVUqg

[H. E. Panqui]

...the issue of marijuana prohibition, in general, clearly exposes a lot of republicrats as goddamned fools...especially republicans, imo...as they are the ones frequently foaming about their love and respect http://themainecitizen.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif for the constitution, 'liberty', etc...as if this stinking 'war on drugs' is in harmony with the con. or is harmonious with 'liberty'... :rolleyes:

...drug war pigs, snitches/finks, helicopters, lawyers, courtrooms, judges, jails, jailers, peepee checkers, probation officers, drug counselors, etc. hanger$-on galore...and yet many of these fool republicrat drug warriors will b!tch and moan about 'big government' and 'high taxes'...http://themainecitizen.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

...these goddamned fool republicrat politicians and their dumbass supporters are so stooooooooooooooooooooopid, so corrupt, so close-minded, etc., that THEY WON'T EVEN REPEAL THE LAWS PROHIBITING/INTERFERING WITH THE GROWING OF HEMP!!!...a completely harmless, extremely useful, beneficial, etc., plant

...in some 80 years of this [federal] republicrat 'war on drugs' americans have gone from a people who largely didn't even know what marijuana was to a country now where the republicrats have a hard time fielding candidates who haven't been photographed sucking on a bong at college!.. http://themainecitizen.com/images/smilies/wink.gif...and yet the goddamned fools want to 'drug-war harder'... http://themainecitizen.com/images/smilies/gif/angry.gif ...worse than stooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopid ...insane, evil...

...government officials in maine are now making the concerted claim that 'voting yes on 1 will allow children to possess pot'... :rolleyes:

....goddamned. republicrat. fools. :mad:...btw, you maine lepage 'liberty' :rolleyes: republicans: STFU you gd fools...

...ah...that felt good...thank-you, rpf!..

[jct74]

yep, Maine governor and Attorney General are tag-teaming to try to scare the shit out of people.



Paul LePage Warns Maine Against ‘Deadly’ Marijuana Legalization In Over-The-Top Video
The governor lied and exaggerated in a bid to sway voters against a ballot initiative.

Daniel Marans
10/14/2016


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caURnqFUcC8


America’s most ignorant governor is at it again.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) released a false and misleading video on Thursday in an attempt to convince residents to vote “no” on “Question 1,” a marijuana legalization referendum on the state’s ballot in November.

“Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly,” LePage warns, before claiming traffic fatalities have gone up in Colorado since the state legalized recreational pot.

In the video, LePage also asserts that marijuana is three times stronger than it was several decades ago. He then links the drug to the state’s serious heroin and opioid epidemic, alleging that “people addicted to marijuana are three times more likely to be addicted to heroin.”

He goes on to describe a dystopian future in which children and pets die from accidentally consuming “marijuana snacks,” and in which drug culture impinges on “schools, daycare centers and churches.”

“They will smoke weed and sell pot at state fairs,” he adds. “Businesses could not fire employees for using marijuana.”

...

read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-lepage-warns-against-deadly-marijuana-legalization_us_5800f855e4b06e0475945215




Maine AG says Question 1 would allow children to have pot

By Darren Fishell
October 13, 2016

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Attorney General Janet Mills delivered a blow to marijuana legalization advocates Thursday, issuing a revised assessment that the bill would make it legal for children to possess up to 2.5 ounces of the drug.

A Maine attorney representing advocates of the measure, Question 1 on the November ballot, said her office is wrong and that Maine law already makes it illegal for people under 21 to use marijuana. Television station WCSH first reported Mills’ assessment of the question Thursday afternoon.

The October surprise for the Question 1 campaign came after Mills’ office completed an earlier analysis of the question that on Oct. 3 was published in the secretary of state’s voter guide, which did not explicitly address implications for children.

Mills was attending a meeting in Baxter State Park on Thursday and was unavailable to speak to the Bangor Daily News about that earlier analysis.

The new analysis echoed statements from Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson during a televised debate about the question and a radio interview with host Ray Richardson.

...

read more:
http://bangordailynews.com/2016/10/13/the-point/maine-attorney-general-says-question-1-would-allow-children-to-have-pot/

[jct74]

Sheldon Adelson throws in a million bucks to fighting marijuana legalization in Massachusetts.


Sheldon Adelson donating $1 million to Mass. anti-pot campaign

By Travis Andersen
OCTOBER 15, 2016

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is joining the fight against a ballot question to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Massachusetts, donating $1 million to an opposition group, officials from the group said Friday.

The sizable contribution from Adelson, a Dorchester native, will appear in public filings next week, according to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts.

...

Adelson, the billionaire chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, and his wife have donated generously to Republican political candidates and committees, as well as efforts to combat addiction.

The couple founded the Adelson Clinic in Las Vegas in 2000, which provides treatment and counseling services to patients battling opiate addictions. The clinic also has a location in Israel, according to its website.

Additional donors to the antimarijuana-legalization effort in Massachusetts have included Bruins icon Bobby Orr, who contributed $1,000 to the Safe and Healthy Campaign.

...

read more:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/14/sheldon-adelson-donating-million-anti-pot-campaign/93B5Znm6w2jYrZR978oLbP/story.html



Also donated $2 million this week to "Protect Nevada's Children", which several of the casinos have also contributed to.


Adelson and Casinos Fund Nevada Legal Marijuana Opposition

BY TOM ANGELL
OCTOBER 19TH, 2016

Casino interests, led by conservative billionaire Sheldon Adelson, are providing the the vast majority of funds for the effort to defeat marijuana legalization in Nevada.

Adelson, owner of The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, dropped $2 million into the leading opposition committee, Protecting Nevada’s Children, according to campaign finance records filed late Tuesday night.

The money from Adelson, who Forbes says is the 21st richest person in the world, accounts for more than 95 percent of all funds the prohibitionist committee has raised to date.

...

Joining Adelson in funding the legal marijuana opposition in Nevada are the South Point Hotel & Casino, which gave $50,000; MGM Resorts International, which contributed $25,000 and the Boyd Gaming Corporation, which is in for $10,000. Also, the Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa Casino gave $1,500 and the Atlantis Casino & Resort dropped $1,000 to support continued cannabis prohibition.

...

read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/10/adelson-and-casinos-fund-nevada-legal-marijuana-opposition/



I have no idea why so many in the gambling industry are fighting against weed legalization, doesn't seem like it would be a threat to their business in any significant way.


.

[jct74]

In Arizona, Discount Tire has donated $1 million to defeating marijuana legalization.



Discount Tire gives $1 million to campaign against marijuana legalization

Mike Sunnucks
Oct 15, 2016

Discount Tire Co. has contributed $1 million to the campaign against an Arizona ballot measure that would legalize marijuana, according to state campaign finance records.

Scottsdale-based Discount Tire donated the money to a group called Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy in Opposition to Prop. 205, according to campaign finance records from the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.

...

Construction machinery Empire Southwest LLC also donated another $150,000 to the no effort. Empire had already donated $50,000.

Discount Tire has more than 900 stores in 31 U.S. states. It is the largest privately held company in the state and one of the top 100 private companies in the U.S., according to Business Journal research and Forbes magazine. The company also is a big motor sports sponsor, which includes Nascar.

...

The Arizona Republican Party, Bennett Dorrance, a founding partner of real estate development firm DMB Associates and a Campbell Soup Co. heir, Christian businessman Foster Friess and Tucson developer Don Diamond have donated $10,000 each to the anti-legalization campaign.

...

read more:
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2016/10/15/discount-tire-gives-1-million-to-campaign-against.html



Doubt this will have much of an effect, but I support any effort to fight back against these prohibitionist scumbags.


Discount Tire Boycott Movement Grows as Owner Donates $1M to Keep Marijuana a Felony

BY RAY STERN
OCTOBER 17, 2016

Phoenix-based Discount Tire Company and its billionaire owner, Bruce Halle, face a growing boycott movement after making a $1 million donation to help defeat Proposition 205, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Arizona.

In August, local immigrant-rights groups organized a boycott after Discount Tire stores posted "Re-Elect Sheriff Joe Arpaio" signs in their windows. An infamous foe of the Latino community, Arpaio is almost certain to face criminal charges of contempt for violating a federal judge's orders in connection with the landmark discrimination case Melendres v. Arpaio.

Now, if recent polls prove accurate, Discount Tire has taken a stand against roughly half the state's registered voters.

...

read more:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/discount-tire-boycott-movement-grows-as-owner-donates-1m-to-keep-marijuana-a-felony-8746517

[Suzanimal]

Dang it, I (used to) buy tires there. :mad:

[pcosmar]

Dang it, I (used to) buy tires there. :mad:

Lots of other folks have tires.

nicer folks

I do that stuff

[Suzanimal]

Lots of other folks have tires.

nicer folks

I do that stuff

For sure! That's why I stuck the used to in there.

[jct74]

Here's a couple of ads running in Massachusetts trying to scare the shit out of people. This one has a few inaccuracies.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjtmo2M3Exw



And God forbid your dog might get into some pot and be stoned for a few hours. I would think there a lot of things around the house that could do it much greater harm. Just another stupid new scare tactic.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVj0PUwWMUI

[tod evans]

Boogity-boogity..

Fortunately people are finally starting to see scare tactics for what they are...

[tod evans]

//

[Suzanimal]

Here's a couple of ads running in Massachusetts trying to scare the shit out of people. This one has a few inaccuracies.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjtmo2M3Exw



"Mom?"
"Kevin?"

Lol, that commercial reminded me of an after school special.:rolleyes:

[jct74]

WBUR poll in Massachusetts has legalization initiative up 55-40.
http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/10/19/wbur-ballot-question-poll-october


Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News poll in Arizona has legalization initiative up 50-42.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/10/20/poll-arizona-marijuana-legalization-proposition-205/92417690/

HighGround poll is Arizona has legalization initiative up 50-45.
http://www.azhighground.com/blog/post/recreational-marijuana-on-the-brink--minimum-wage-passing-in-latest-statewide-poll

[jct74]

Super Bowl champ Jim McMahon makes the case for marijuana legalization in Arizona.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlkvJ5PjoQ

[jct74]

largest newspaper in Maine endorse marijuana legalization initiative



Our View: Maine needs rational pot policy, so vote ‘yes’ on Question 1
On Election Day, Mainers have a chance to vote against the failed 40-year war on drugs.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD
October 20, 2016

Sometimes it’s the leaders who need leadership. For decades, politicians have been clinging to outdated ideas about drug policy because they didn’t want to appear soft on crime.

We support the citizen-initiated Question 1, an act to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol, because it would tell lawmakers to change course.

A “yes” vote says that there is such a thing as responsible, adult use of marijuana. The current law makes criminals out of people who are otherwise law-abiding and dumps millions of dollars into a tax-free black market. Legalization would put low-risk marijuana use on the right side of the law, and focus resources where they are more needed.

...

Ultimately, this measure is a referendum on the war on drugs, a 40-year-old failed public policy that has used the criminal justice system to address a public health problem. It has given Maine a marijuana policy that makes no sense – one that winks at some violators, punishes others too severely and pumps money into criminal organizations. Our medical marijuana program does a lot of good, but it’s haphazard, making cannabis unavailable to some people who would benefit from it, while providing a back door to legalization for some recreational users.

The referendum question is far from perfect, but it provides the framework for a much more workable system than now exists to balance personal liberty with legitimate public safety risks.

...

read more:
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/10/20/our-view-maine-needs-rational-pot-policy-so-vote-yes-on-question-1/

[jct74]

In MA all the typical tyrants are against it.

Campaign for a Safe & Healthy Massachusetts is the primary opposition group.

Opponents

Individuals
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts_Marijuana_Legalization,_Question_4_( 2016)

To piss off the above mentioned I will gladly vote in favor of question 4 this election cycle. It will be interesting if Maura will reinterpret this law to her liking like the AWB (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?498278-AR-15-Banned-in-Massachusetts).


State Senate President Stan Rosenberg came out for it last week, making him the highest ranking state official to endorse the measure so far.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/10/mass_senate_president_stan_ros_2.html


Besides that though pretty much the whole political establishment is lined up against it, you are correct. Fortunately doesn't seem to be having much of an effect, with the latest poll showing it leading by 15 points.

[jct74]

Boogity-boogity..

Fortunately people are finally starting to see scare tactics for what they are...

Here's another one for you Tod. Even the newspaper reporters are starting to call them out for their BS.



Edible marijuana could be 'threat' this Halloween, but sheriff offers no proof

David Harris
October 24, 2016

Surrounded by kids in costumes, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings on Monday said at a news conference that parents should watch out for marijuana-laced candy that might be put in trick-or-treat bags on Halloween.

Demings, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, warned that it could happen if Florida voters in November pass Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana. The association opposes the amendment.

Proponents of the amendment said Demings' claims are baseless.

"What Sheriff Demings is saying is completely unrealistic," said Ben Pollara, director of United For Care, the pro-medical-marijuana group funded by Orlando attorney John Morgan that pushed to get the issue on the ballot. "It's not grounded in fact or experience in the 25 other states and in [Washington] D.C. that already have medical marijuana."

Even though the amendment won't be voted on until Nov. 8 — after Halloween — the threat is still there, Demings said. He could not offer examples of children receiving laced Halloween candy in states where medical marijuana is legal.

...

read more:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-amendment-2-florida-sheriff-20161024-story.html

[tod evans]

I've been closely associated with stoners for well over 40 years and I've yet to know anybody to give weed to a kid..

I have known parents to smoke with their teenagers but that's a whole 'nuther thing, they weren't tricking or deceiving anybody and they certainly weren't getting unsuspecting children high..

These people and their war on drugs scare me!

Their attitudes are frightening and their ignorance astounding. :eek:

[jct74]

Jimmy Buffett says Yes on 2 in Florida



Jimmy Buffett Backs Florida's Medical Marijuana Amendment 2

Steve Bloom
October 25, 2016


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21m5xMhwZ1k


"Duh," says yacht-rocker Jimmy Buffett about Amendment 2 in Florida that would legalize medical marijuana on Nov. 8. "All it took was for me to fall off the stage in Australia and have to get serious medical attention afterwards. And I can tell you from first-hand experience that medical marijuana is a great cure. That's why I'm voting No on 1 and Yes on 2… We've been enjoying the sun for most of our lives in Florida and now it's time to use it right, and use it for everybody's benefit. That's why I'm voting No on 1."

No on 1 opposes an amendment that would give utility companies further control of the energy market.

Buffett fell off a stage while performing in Australia in 2011. He banged his head and needed several stitches. His backing group is famously known as the Coral Reefer Band. In 2014, Buffett's company, Margaritaville Enterprises LLC, filed for a trademark with the plan of selling marijuana products under that name.

http://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2016/10/25/jimmy-buffett-for-floridas-medical-marijuana-amendment-2/

[jct74]

Two new polls in Nevada

53% support, 41% oppose - KTNV / Rasmussen (http://www.ktnv.com/news/political/ktnvrasmussen-poll-voters-split-on-stadium-support-gun-background-checks-legal-marijuana)

47% support, 43% oppose - Las Vegas Review Journal (Sheldon Adelson's paper)
(http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada-poll-likely-voters-narrowly-support-legalizing-recreational)

Support in the LVRJ poll is again kind of low as it was in their poll a few weeks ago (http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/election-2016/nevada-pot-ballot-measure-too-close-call), but it's also worth noting that the lead has increased from 1 point to 4 points between those two polls.

[jct74]

Huge endorsement in Massachusetts from the Boston Globe, going against pretty much the entire political establishment in the state.



Just say ‘yes’ on Question 4

EDITORIAL
OCTOBER 27, 2016

THE OPPONENTS of Question 4, which would legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, have inadvertently provided the best reason to vote for the measure. Those opponents include virtually every elected official and law enforcement officer in the state, from Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey on down, and their lockstep opposition (with the lonely exception of Senate President Stanley Rosenberg) sends a clear message that Beacon Hill will not legalize marijuana on its own, no matter how little popular support prohibition may have.

And that’s too bad. If the political leaders of the Commonwealth showed even the slightest interest in legalization, it would probably make sense to wait for lawmakers to produce a better-crafted proposal than the current ballot measure. But Question 4 is all we’ve got. The Globe endorses the yes campaign, despite the proposal’s many flaws, because the harm stemming from continued inaction on marijuana would be even greater.

...

read more:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2016/10/26/just-say-yes-question/QS5jPGCLEu5a4raBmc093H/story.html


--


San Diego Union-Tribune just endorsed in California. I think all the major papers in CA have now endorsed.



Yes on Prop. 64: California should legalize marijuana

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board
October 27, 2016

Perhaps the most high-profile measure on the Nov. 8 ballot, Proposition 64 wouldn’t just legalize recreational use of marijuana by adults in California. It would set up a regulatory framework that governed licensing, advertising, labeling and testing for a multibillion-dollar industry. It would also launch a mass social experiment. No state anywhere near this large has ever legalized marijuana.

If approved, the ballot measure championed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom would allow those 21 and older to grow up to six plants at home, so long as the plants are not readily visible to the public, and to buy and possess an ounce or less of marijuana and 8 grams or less of concentrated cannabis products. It would remain illegal to smoke or otherwise consume marijuana in public, and to smoke pot anywhere tobacco smoking is banned. Marijuana could, however, be used at licensed cafes. Marijuana sales would have a 15 percent state tax, and growers would be taxed based on the weight of their harvest. Annual state revenue of about $1 billion is expected, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board supports Proposition 64. We get why many worry about giving a de facto seal of acceptability to casual drug use. But the state already is inundated with pot use because of Proposition 215, a lax 1996 medical marijuana law used by tens of thousands of Californians and sometimes gamed. The argument that it makes sense to regulate and tax the drug rather than accept a status quo of little regulation and taxation is powerful and persuasive.

...

read more:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/endorsements/sd-yes-prop-64-legalize-recreational-marijuana-20161026-story.html

[jct74]

Bunch of celebrities endorse in California too.

http://artistsfor64.com/



Artists Come Out Strong in Support of Marijuana Legalization in California
Jay Z, Russell Simmons, Olivia Wilde, and other luminaries want you to vote Yes in favor of Proposition 64.

By Tony Newman
October 25, 2016

A group of well-known actors and musicians today came out in favor of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, a voter initiative on the November 2016 ballot that will control, regulate and tax responsible adult use, sale and cultivation of marijuana in California.

Artists for 64 is being organized by dream hampton and Mike de la Rocha of Revolve Impact and includes Jesse Williams, Shailene Woodley, Olivia Wilde, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Russell Simmons, Danny Glover, Piper Kerman, Ty Dolla $ign, Pusha T., Common, Tim Robbins, Michael K Williams and Al Harrington.

Last week Jay Z released a video about the history of the War on Drugs, calling it an “epic fail” and favoring Prop. 64. And yesterday retired 16-year NBA veteran Al Harrington released another powerful new video on TheRoot.com. In it Harrington describes the benefits he and his grandmother receive from using marijuana.

Artists for Prop. 64 joins an unprecedented coalition of bipartisan supporters of this initiative, including: California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, the California Academy of Preventative Medicine, California Nurses Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, California Medical Association, United Farm Workers, California State NAACP, the Courage Campaign, Equality California, the National Latino Officers Association, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and leading activists Michelle Alexander, Dorsey Nunn and Susan Burton.

...

read more:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/artists-come-out-strong-support-marijuana-legalization-california



here's former NBA player Al Harrington



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOBsKyurpE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOBsKyurpE

[jct74]

Issue 7 struck from the ballot 12 days before election day in Arkansas, with 142,000 ballots already cast through early voting. Issue 6 remains on the ballot. They are both medical marijuana initiatives, but Issue 7 is considered to be the better of the two.



Arkansas Court Disqualifies 2nd Medical Marijuana Proposal

By ANDREW DEMILLO
Oct 27, 2016

The Arkansas Supreme Court has disqualified a medical marijuana proposal from the November ballot less than two weeks before the election and with thousands of votes already cast, but voters will still be able to consider a competing plan.

In a 5-2 ruling Thursday, the court sided with opponents of the proposed initiated act — known as Issue 7 — that would have allowed patients with certain medical conditions and a doctor's recommendation to purchase marijuana from dispensaries. The proposal was one of two medical marijuana proposals on the ballot, and justices earlier this month rejected a challenge to a competing measure.

The ruling comes after nearly 142,000 people have already cast ballots through early voting, which began Monday in Arkansas for the general election.

Justices tossed out more than 12,000 signatures that were approved by election officials for the proposal, saying supporters didn't comply with laws regarding registration and reporting of paid canvassers. The decision left the group nearly 2,500 signatures shy of what was needed to qualify for the ballot.

...

read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/arkansas-court-disqualifies-2nd-medical-marijuana-proposal-43102130



Even opponents of the initiative are like - WTF?



State Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe, a spokesman for the anti-medical pot coalition, said the ruling doesn't change the group's strategy and that he was concerned about the court striking a ballot measure so close to the election. The court earlier rejected separate lawsuits by the coalition against both proposals, but those challenges focused on the proposals' language and not its petitions.

"Honestly, at this point in the stage, 12 days before the election, it sounds kind of strange, but I actually kind of wish it would have gone to the voters and let them vote it up or down at this point," Bledsoe said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/arkansas-court-disqualifies-2nd-medical-marijuana-proposal-43102130



The surgeon general said he empathizes with the initiative proponents’ “passion and frustration” even if he disagrees with them on the medicinal benefits of marijuana in its current form. Disqualifying the ballot initiative 12 days before the vote could be “disillusioning” to people who wanted their voices to be heard, he said.

“It furthers this narrative that the government isn’t working for us and it undermines, in their minds, the process,” Bledsoe said.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/oct/27/arkansas-court-disqualifies-2nd-medical-marijuana-/

[Suzanimal]

If Prop. 205 passes, Maricopa County Attorney's Office funds from marijuana diversion program would dry up

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office stands to lose millions in drug-diversion program revenue over the next few years should recreational marijuana become legal through Proposition 205.

The funds constitute a small percentage of the county attorney's nearly $100 million annual budget. But over the past 10 years, the office has collected nearly $15 million by referring clients to TASC, a private drug-treatment contractor hired to rehabilitate marijuana and other drug offenders.

If the ballot measure passes, certain marijuana prosecutions would become history, cutting into a drug-diversion program for marijuana offenders that has served almost 15,000 defendants over the past six years.

Defendants facing drug charges must pay the program’s fees, and in exchange they sidestep felony convictions if they successfully complete the program. TASC, in turn, reimburses the County Attorney’s Office up to $650 per marijuana client.

...

Montgomery frequently mentions the drug-intervention program in his anti-Prop. 205 messaging. He holds it up as a fair alternative to a felony conviction for lower-level offenders.

...

First- and second-time drug offenders are eligible for TASC. After an arrest, prosecutors in the County Attorney’s Office can refer a defendant for the diversion program and essentially put a hold on filing charges. If the program is completed, the case is either dropped with no charges filed or the pending charges are dismissed.

The defendant facing marijuana charges is responsible for paying the program fees, which can amount to more than $1,000, according to information obtained by The Republic from TASC. Of this, $150 is marked for intake, another $150 is for program costs, and $650 is then returned to the County Attorney’s Office. Defendants can pay lower fees, based on their income.

Random drug tests required by the program cost $14 apiece, and defendants could be responsible for a $50 fee to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for fingerprints and photographs.

Marrya Briggs, TASC chief operating officer, said there are no readily available reports that show how much reimbursement comes from marijuana clients, but she provided figures that confirmed more than three-quarters of TASC's clients since 2011 were referred because of marijuana charges.

Over the past six years, 77 percent of TASC's clients entered the program for marijuana charges, or 14,891 of 19,444 total clients since 2011, according to TASC.

County Attorney's Office records, provided to the newspaper this month under the state's public-records law, show the office received an average of $1.6 million annually from TASC reimbursements from 2010 to 2016.

The office receives $1,200 per defendant arrested on dangerous-drug charges and $1,500 per defendant placed in the TASC program for narcotics, according to a county attorney's spokeswoman.

...

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/10/26/prop-205-marijuana-diversion-tasc-dry-up-county-attorney-bill-montgomery-millions/92795924/

[tod evans]

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office stands to lose millions in drug-diversion program revenue

Revenue my ass!

Tax dollar allocation is what they're speaking about, the tax payers will save millions if this bill passes..

Paint an honest picture you bastards.

[Danke]

Revenue my ass!

Tax dollar allocation is what they're speaking about, the tax payers will save millions if this bill passes..

Paint an honest picture you bastards.

I'm sure they look at it as OPM. Maybe Federal funds?

[osan]

The fact that these ballot measures exists shows how unfree we are, having to ask permission of BigBro as if we were idiot children incapable of making decisions for ourselves.

It is disgusting.

[Xenliad]

This measure leaves much to be desired, but I did my part.

http://imgur.com/a/C75m0
http://imgur.com/a/C75m0

[parocks]

The Yes On 1 Campaign in Maine is led by David Boyer, Ron Paul staffer in Maine in 2012. I haven't seen recent polls, but I'd assume a win.

[jct74]

60 Minutes will be airing a segment on the ballot initiatives coming up in a few hours. Looks like a hit piece to me.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhxN2UKwiA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ipEU8eGnh8

[Suzanimal]

60 Minutes will be airing a segment on the ballot initiatives coming up in a few hours. Looks like a hit piece to me.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhxN2UKwiA



"They're in disbelief that it's harmful. They say, How can it be harmful? It's a legal drug" :rolleyes:

[jct74]

Catholic church spending big to defeat marijuana legalization in Massachusetts



Archdiocese gives $850,000 to fight marijuana bid

By Jim O’Sullivan
OCTOBER 28, 2016

The Boston Archdiocese is pouring $850,000 into a last-minute effort to defeat a state ballot measure to legalize marijuana, calling increased drug use a threat to the Catholic Church’s health and social-service programs.

The church’s contribution represents about a 50 percent increase over what the antimarijuana Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts has collected so far. The total, however, is still less than half of what has been raised by the referendum’s proponents.

The church’s donation will likely help fund an existing advertising campaign. Archdiocesan officials have also sent materials to parishes and schools arguing against the ballot question.

“It reflects the fact that the archdiocese holds the matter among its highest priorities,” archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said of the donation. “It’s a recognition that, if passed, the law would have significantly detrimental impacts on our parishes, our ministries.”

...

read more:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/28/archdiocese-spend-against-marijuana-legalization/qtCwVY4ViWjRFwOvcyveeK/story.html

[Danke]

Catholic church spending big to defeat marijuana legalization in Massachusetts




read more:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/28/archdiocese-spend-against-marijuana-legalization/qtCwVY4ViWjRFwOvcyveeK/story.html

They are as bad as government, looking for state hand outs. Not really interested in treatment for the few that have a problem with marijuana.

[Suzanimal]

Catholic church spending big to defeat marijuana legalization in Massachusetts


“It reflects the fact that the archdiocese holds the matter among its highest priorities,” archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon said of the donation. “It’s a recognition that, if passed, the law would have significantly detrimental impacts on our parishes, our ministries.”

read more:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/28/archdiocese-spend-against-marijuana-legalization/qtCwVY4ViWjRFwOvcyveeK/story.html

Really? That kind of money could really help some poor people. This kind of shit pisses me off.

[jct74]

Another fucking casino person trying to shut down legal marijuana. I don't know what it is about weed that they think is such a threat to their business model. But probably Wynn just made the donation so his casino could get built.



Money to gov’s no-to-pot group came just ahead of casino vote
Wynn ups the 'anti'

Joe Battenfeld
October 29, 2016

Casino mogul Steve Wynn handed out $100,000 to Gov. Charlie Baker’s anti-pot legalization campaign one day before the state Gaming Commission gave the green light to Wynn’s planned Everett casino development, records show.

Wynn Resorts’ large donation was received by the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts on Tuesday, just 24 hours before the massive casino complex got final approval, clearing the way for construction to begin soon.

Baker, along with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, formed the committee to defeat Question 4 — which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and over — and has made it a major political priority.

The governor partly controls the Gaming Commission, which voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the controversial casino development. Baker also stepped into the casino fight earlier this year to resolve a dispute between Wynn and state environmental regulators.

Wynn’s $100,000 contribution is his first to Baker’s anti-pot campaign, which has drawn support from numerous business leaders and development companies regulated by the state, as well as dozens of Bay State elected officials.

A spokesman for the campaign to legalize marijuana said the Wynn donation to Baker’s ballot question committee raises questions about whether he and other developers might be trying to “curry favor” with the administration.

...

read more:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/joe_battenfeld/2016/10/battenfeld_money_to_gov_s_no_to_pot_group_came_jus t_ahead_of

[jct74]

Here's that 60 minutes propaganda piece if anyone's interested, brought to you by "Dr. Jon LaPook (https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Jon-LaPook-96188791874/)".

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-five-states-to-vote-on-recreational-pot/

[dannno]

Another fucking casino person trying to shut down legal marijuana. I don't know what it is about marijuana that they think is such a threat to their business model. But probably Wynn just made the donation so his casino could get built.

People take more risks on alcohol and they make worse decisions. People on cannabis tend to be more cautious.

[dannno]

Here's that 60 minutes propaganda piece if anyone's interested, brought to you by "Dr. Jon LaPook (https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Jon-LaPook-96188791874/)".

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-five-states-to-vote-on-recreational-pot/

I like what the officer said at the end about how he has been trying to encourage regional practices to start making sure they check drivers who have been in accidents for THC because it totally discredits the statistics that they have been touting in Washing about how the % of accidents with THC in their system have gone up - that is because they likely had the same issue and had to start encouraging them to check for it and so of course when they started to check more for it in more places the percentages went up.

In Colorado, we actually saw that fatal accidents fell sharply after legalization. This is a better statistic to look at, imo, since it is more easily measured.

[Suzanimal]

Government Regulators Drive Legal Marijuana Underground

Ryan McMaken

Following voter referenda in which the voters opted to legalize recreational use of marijuana, four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska — legalized to varying degrees. Colorado and Washington were the first, back in 2012, but in all cases, federal regulators have done their best to hobble the newly legalized industry and to keep businesses in a legal gray area.

Specifically, it has been the banking industry — which is regulated at the federal level — which has done nothing at all to attempt to cooperate with private firms in jurisdictions where the voters have parted ways with federal prohibiting marijuana use.

Colorado in particular passed legislation allowing for the creation of "marijuana banks" that were designed to create new financial institutions that could be allowed to functions under federal banking regulations. The governor of Colorado passed that legislation into law in 2014, but the Federal Reserve system — one of the federal government's agencies that regulates the financial sector — refused to allow these institutions to exist.

The Fed, which vehemently opposed any meaningful oversight for itself, nevertheless is happy to assist the federal government in shutting down peaceful, legal businesses.

Federal prohibitions on banking for cannabis-related businesses has meant that dispensaries and related businesses — even businesses that never touch physical marijuana, such as advertising agencies — must deal in large sacks of physical cash. This, not surprisingly, has led to more criminal activity in which violent thieves more often ambush employees of cannabis-related businesses, hoping they'll score a large cash payout. The problem could easily be solved, of course, by allowing these business to put cash deposits in banks.

The result, not surprisingly, has been that businesses have moved underground to use so-called gray markets in a gray economy. This involves numerous workarounds, but federal regulators spend immense amounts of time trying to spy on these businesses and come up with new ways to stymie their efforts to engage in a legal business.

In a lengthy article on Monday, Bloomberg recently recounted the efforts of these legal businesses in detail and their efforts to conduct business while still paying taxes and staying in line with state-level regulations. Bloomberg even recounted how the DEA threatens businesses over which the DEA has no actual jurisdiction:


“This strikes me as ludicrous,” Wykowski said. As a prosecutor, “all of our focus was to get the underground economy above ground. The way you do that is to take the cash, because when it is deposited, you can follow its paper trail,” he said. “It is self-defeating for the government not to encourage people to use bank accounts and accept their cash.”

People in the business have been forced to be “more clever with banking, so a lot have indirect banking so they can pay with checks or wire transfers,” the lawyer said. He doesn’t want to give an exact definition of “indirect banking,” however, since “the Drug Enforcement Agency tries to foil any workarounds we come up with.”

For a while, Wykowski said, one strategy was to hire an armored car service that would deposit the client’s cash in its own general account, then wire it to the client’s banks, and that the DEA found out and wrote a letter to the armored car company saying it would pull its license if it didn’t stop. The DEA said in a statement they didn’t send such a letter but did have “some telephonic discussions with multiple armored car companies.” These discussions, the DEA said, were to advise the companies “of things we were observing in the ‘state legalized’ marijuana business.” The DEA does not have direct jurisdiction over licensing decisions made by state authorities. (The armored car company didn’t return requests for comment.)


...



https://mises.org/blog/government-regulators-drive-legal-marijuana-underground

[tommyrp12]

Ok, so now the regulatory/ administrative state is being touted as the solution for a already thoroughly authoritarian republican form of a state. The regulatory/ administrative agency in charge can wipe out any remaining freedom for personal growers and smokers at a whim. There is no good solution for people here.

A. Vote for it and hope the regulators have mercy on the personal smokers and growers.
B. Vote no and have the status quo and wait for a better bill without regulation.
C. Do what you want regardless.

I'm going back to supporting C. Although I would have liked to have pissed off various tyrants in the state.

http://www.necn.com/news/politics/WEB-The-Take1-103116_NECN-399396561.html
6:30 - 6:47

The phrase to look for is "complete control to the regulators".

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?474392-From-Administrative-State-to-Constitutional-Government&highlight=administrative+state

I'm not sure if my cynicism about government and it's regulatory counterpart is clouding my judgment and this might be good over all, or if i'm guessing right and this is going to go south real quick due to regulatory capture and authoritarianism.

[jct74]

The regulatory/ administrative agency in charge can wipe out any remaining freedom for personal growers and smokers at a whim.

What freedoms to they have now though? The legislators can mess with any part of the bill they do not like anyways, because it is not a constitutional amendment. But they're probably not going to screw with it too much, because then there would be a huge public outcry for going against the will of the people. My advice is vote for it. It will be a huge strategic win for the nationwide movement, with no eastern state having legalized yet and Massachusetts being close to the massive population center of New York City. Probably would kick off a domino effect of other eastern states legalizing too, which legislators in Vermont (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?490780-Vermont-Senate-approves-marijuana-legalization-16-13) and New Jersey (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?502351-Recreational-marijuana-for-N-J-Lawmakers-to-check-out-Colorado-s-budding-law) have recently looked at. If it loses though the prohibitionists will have a field day and the pressure on other eastern states to legalize will be much lessened.

[jct74]

Colorado Lawmakers Want Arizona’s Anti-Marijuana Campaign To Stop Misleading People About Their State
As Arizona voters prepare to vote on legalization, an anti-drug group paints a bleak picture of life in a neighboring state.

Matt Ferner
10/31/2016

Lawmakers in Colorado on Monday asked an anti-marijuana campaign in Arizona to stop airing ads that they say contain false information about their state and could mislead voters who will be deciding on recreational legalization of the drug next week.

State Sen. Pat Steadman (D) and Democratic state Reps. Millie Hamner and Johnathan Singer wrote an email to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy leaders to call out ads the group has run. They say the TV spots contain “inaccurate and misleading statements” about the use of legal marijuana tax revenue in Colorado as well as rates of teen drug use.

“As members of the Colorado Legislature who played a central role in the budgeting and appropriation of marijuana tax revenues, we feel it is our duty to set the record straight so that voters in both [Arizona and Colorado] have accurate information about this subject,” the letter reads.

In an ad titled “Empty Promises,” two former Colorado school officials suggest that millions of dollars in tax revenue that were supposed to go to schools instead funded the regulation of the legal marijuana industry. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb makes a similar claim in an ad titled “Mistake.”

“We can say with certainty that the claims about Colorado marijuana tax revenues featured in your committee’s ads range from highly misleading to wholly inaccurate,” the lawmakers write, citing multiple official state documents that illustrate their point.

...

read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arizona-anti-marijuana-campaign-colorado_us_58179a85e4b0390e69d1e031



Two new ads running in Arizona to counter the misinformation:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up17ydV9CTE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXU5u_5qnw4

[Danke]

"Focus on more serious crimes?"

So the ad is saying Marijuana usage is a crime...

[jct74]

"Focus on more serious crimes?"

So the ad is saying Marijuana usage is a crime...

currently, yes.

[tommyrp12]

What freedoms to they have now though? The legislators can mess with any part of the bill they do not like anyways, because it is not a constitutional amendment. But they're probably not going to screw with it too much, because then there would be a huge public outcry for going against the will of the people. My advice is vote for it. It will be a huge strategic win for the nationwide movement, with no eastern state having legalized yet and Massachusetts being close to the massive population center of New York City. Probably would kick off a domino effect of other eastern states legalizing too, which legislators in Vermont (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?490780-Vermont-Senate-approves-marijuana-legalization-16-13) and New Jersey (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?502351-Recreational-marijuana-for-N-J-Lawmakers-to-check-out-Colorado-s-budding-law) have recently looked at. If it loses though the prohibitionists will have a field day and the pressure on other eastern states to legalize will be much lessened.

I'll vote yes but reserve the right to say I told ya so when they ban it again.



http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu107/bentom187/577611520-850x478large_zpsdu3xj8g9.jpg
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ top law enforcement official went on the offensive Thursday against the legalization of recreational pot, arguing that the marijuana industry would resist curbs on the potency of its products and “always put profits ahead of people.”
Question 4 on Tuesday’s ballot would legalize possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and allow for retail sales of the drug, including in the form of edibles such as cookies or candy.
Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, is among several high-profile elected officials opposed to the ballot initiative, a list that also includes Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston’s Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh.

“Question 4 isn’t just about legalization — it’s about commercialization,” said Healey, who was joined by health care professionals who oppose the measure at a Beacon Hill news conference.
The measure’s language includes no specific limits on the potency of THC, the pyschoactive chemical in marijuana, for products sold in the state. Critics say today’s marijuana is generally at least six times more potent than it was in the 1970s.
“Maura Healey’s concern has no basis in fact and is yet another scare tactic to stop voters from putting the criminals who control the (marijuana) market today out of business,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group Yes on 4.
Marijuana companies have already signaled their intent to fight any restrictions, Healey said.
“Potency limits might actually be better for people, but they are bad for profits, they’re bad for the bottom line and they’re bad for a billion-dollar industry that will always put profits ahead of people,” the attorney general said.

If approved, the ballot measure would create a Cannabis Control Commission to regulate recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. Backers say the commission would have absolute authority” over edibles and other products sold in the state, including the power to impose limits on potency. ..............................................

[jct74]

I'll vote yes but reserve the right to say I told ya so when they ban it again.

Good call, I think that is the right decision. I understand your concerns though; there is a possibility the bill could be majorly screwed with after it passes. That could be avoided with a constitutional amendment that strictly spells out everything, but that approach is also problematic for being too inflexible which gives opponents an opening to rail against the bill. There is no perfect solution, but the important thing is to move the ball forward, which basically was the point the Boston Globe (http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2016/10/26/just-say-yes-question/QS5jPGCLEu5a4raBmc093H/story.html) made in their endorsement. And the bill is almost certainly going to be tinkered with after it passes, because it is unlikely legislators are going to let the 3.75% tax rate stand. I don't think the legislators (or regulatory commission) will do anything that severely violates the spirit of the bill however, especially if it passes by a significant margin which would send an even more emphatic message. Politicians usually respect the results of an election it seems like... although in Great Britain maybe not so much, we'll see how the Brexit thing turns out.

[jct74]

Sheldon Adelson throws in another $1.35 million in Nevada



Sheldon Adelson gave $1.35 million more to campaign opposing recreational marijuana in Nevada

By COLTON LOCHHEAD
November 5, 2016

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson gave $1.35 million more to the campaign opposing recreational marijuana in Nevada in recent weeks, campaign filings with the Nevada secretary of state show.

Adelson gave to the political action committee Protecting Nevada’s Children, which opposes Question 2, the ballot measure that would legalize the sale and consumption of recreational marijuana in the state.

Adelson has essentially self-funded the fight against the measure. He gave the group $2 million in September. Of the $3.44 million the campaign has raised since its September launch, $3.35 million, or 97.4 percent, has come from Adelson.

...

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/sheldon-adelson-gave-135-million-more-campaign-opposing-recreational



He also gave $500,000 recently to fighting Prop 205 in Arizona. Here is the full list of every contributor over $10,000.


$100,000-plus donors:

Discount Tire $1 million

Arizona Chamber of Commerce $918,000

Sheldon Adelson (Nevada casino magnate) $500,000

Insys Therapeutics Inc. (maker of Fentanyl and synthetic THC) $500,000

Empire Southwest LLC (construction-equipment company) $350,000

Services Group of America (food distribution company — has a division that sells food to private prisons) $180,000

SAM Action (national anti-marijuana group) $165,000

T. Denny Sanford (South Dakota businessman) $100,000

Larry Van Tuyl (auto dealership mogul who owns a $125-million-dollar yacht) $100,000

Randy Kendrick (wife of Ken Kendrick, Arizona Diamondbacks owner) $100,000


$50,000-plus donors:

Arizona Mining Association $51,000

Arizona Automobile Dealers Association $50,000

Michael Ahearn (co-founder of First Solar) $50,000


$25,000-plus donors:

Arizona Republican Party $45,570

Anita Farnsworth (Mesa philanthropist) $40,000

Pima Medical Institute $40,000

Dan Grubb (auto dealer) $35,000

U-Haul $35,000

Gila River Indian Community $25,000

Robson Communities Inc. (home developer) $25,000

Fulton Homes Corporation $25,000

Larry Clemmensen (Paradise Valley investor) $25,000

Southern Arizona Leadership (Tucson-boosting group) $25,000

Microchip Technology Incorporated $25,000


$10,001 to $20,000 donors:

William R. Metzler (real estate) $20,000

Arizona Cotton Growers Association $15,000

Taylor Morrison Inc. (homebuilder) $15,000

Greater Phoenix Leadership $15,000

Robert H. Castellini (Cincinnati Reds baseball team owner) $15,000

Jim Chamberlain (Sun State Builders owner) $12,821

Kent and Shelley Bunger (owners of contracting company) $11,000


$10,000 donors:

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (parent company of Arizona Public Service utility) $10,000

Bashas' Inc. (grocery-store chain) $10,000

Daniel and Carleen Brophy (Wyoming-based philanthropists) $10,000

Foster Friess (Wyoming businessman) $10,000

Peterson & Burge Enterprises (Kingman brother-and-sister business behind Desert Oro Foods) $10,000

Arizona Rock Products Association (Rock PAC) $10,000

El Dorado Holdings Inc. (developer) $10,000

Ken Ellegard (auto dealer) $10,000

Jim Click Automotive Team $10,000

Bennett Dorrance (Campbell Soup heir) $10,000

Arizona Trucking Association $10,000

Scott Savage (Ohio investor) $10,000

Grimaldi's Brick-Oven Pizzeria $10,000

Lavidge (ad agency) $10,000

Michael Pierson (part-owner of Team PRP, a Mesa auto recycling firm) $10,000

Ewing Irrigation Products Inc. $10,000

Richard C. Adkerson (CEO and president of Freeport-McMoran) $10,000

Freeport-McMoran (mining company) $10,000

Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association Inc. $10,000

Ed Breunig (Laz-Y-Boy Furniture Gallery owner) $10,000

CopperPoint (insurance company) $10,000

Douglas Fougnies (patent enforcer) $10,000

Salmon for Congress (Matt Salmon isn't running for Congress any more, but can use his donors' money for other political campaigns) $10,000

Donald Diamond (Tucson real estate investor) $10,000

Knight Transportation $10,000

Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors of America Inc. $10,000

M.R. Tanner Construction $10,000

Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association $10,000

Michael Pollack (Tempe movie-theater owner) $10,000

Sun State Builders $10,000

Jerry Hayden (retired businessman and Club for Growth donor) $10,000

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/here-are-the-prohibitionists-whove-donated-10-000-or-more-to-keep-marijuana-a-felony-in-arizona-8794628

[jct74]

House Minority Leader backs marijuana legalization



Nancy Pelosi Backs California Cannabis Legalization

LEAFLY STAFF
November 4, 2016

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) came out in support of California’s adult-use Proposition 64 on Friday, telling the Los Angeles Times she’ll cast her ballot for the measure.

“I will vote for it, but I have not made a public statement about it until right this very second,” Pelosi said, according to the Times, which published the news Friday afternoon. The paper said she didn’t elaborate.

Pelosi, who leads Democrats in the US House of Representatives, is one of of only a small number of high-ranking public officials in who’ve come out in support of adult-use legalization. Others include state Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, bipartisan members of Congress—including US Reps. Jared Huffman, Barbara Lee, Ted Lieu, Tom McClintock, Dana Rohrabacher, and Eric Swalwell. Perhaps the most visible elected official to back the measure, however, is from clear across the country. US Sen. Bernie Sanders told supporters in Santa Barbara back in May that he supports Prop 64. “If I were a citizen of California,” he said,” I would vote for that ballot item to legalize marijuana.”

...

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/us-house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-says-will-vote-californias-prop-64

[jct74]

Will track the official results here. Anyone have some predictions to make? I'll say California by 12, Maine by 6, Massachusetts by 5, Nevada by 5, and Arizona will lose by 1. I'll be very happy with 4 out of 5 though, on the legalization initiatives. There are also 4 MMJ initiatives on the ballot.

[Sumthinorother]

I don't understand why you guys support these kinds of measures or how they have anything to do with liberty. Why not just eliminate any laws prohibiting the use/growing of this drug and all other drugs? Let a person grow what they want and ingest what they want and don't try to protect them from themselves.

I don't want the government telling me certain drugs are good for me if I am a certain age. I know marijuana and alcohol aren't good for me. I think alcohol is the worst of them all. Not only should the government not restrict drugs but it should not promote them either.

Long before I ever heard of the "liberty movement" or Ron Paul, I was saying I thought drugs should not be illegal - but ALL drugs with NO age limits. I don't see any other way.

I was disturbed in 2012 when Ron Paul said he thought marijuana should be handled like alcohol, as if that works at all well. Get rid of the age limit and you at least get rid of some the attraction. Give control back to the parents.

I don't want marijuana to become a thing you are "supposed" to do just like alcohol has been my whole life.

at least it didn't look like any of these used the term "recreational" - as if I am supposed to think there is something recreational to do with the stuff.

Someone help me if I am missing something.

Thanks.

[Suzanimal]

I don't understand why you guys support these kinds of measures or how they have anything to do with liberty. Why not just eliminate any laws prohibiting the use/growing of this drug and all other drugs? Let a person grow what they want and ingest what they want and don't try to protect them from themselves.

I don't want the government telling me certain drugs are good for me if I am a certain age. I know marijuana and alcohol aren't good for me. I think alcohol is the worst of them all. Not only should the government not restrict drugs but it should not promote them either.

Long before I ever heard of the "liberty movement" or Ron Paul, I was saying I thought drugs should not be illegal - but ALL drugs with NO age limits. I don't see any other way.

I was disturbed in 2012 when Ron Paul said he thought marijuana should be handled like alcohol, as if that works at all well. Get rid of the age limit and you at least get rid of some the attraction. Give control back to the parents.

I don't want marijuana to become a thing you are "supposed" to do just like alcohol has been my whole life.

at least it didn't look like any of these used the term "recreational" - as if I am supposed to think there is something recreational to do with the stuff.

Someone help me if I am missing something.

Thanks.

You're not. I just hope these measures will keep some people out of jail.

[H. E. Panqui]

"Why not just eliminate any laws prohibiting the use/growing of this drug and all other drugs? Let a person grow what they want and ingest what they want and don't try to protect them from themselves." (sumthinorother)

:)

...of course you are 100% correct here...REPEAL, not LEGALIZATION...[what a stooooopid term 'legalization' is!!]

...but you'll have to be satisfied in the knowledge your approach is right and just...because you are surrounded by goddamned republican and democrat fools...your common sense and decency is very uncommon in a country DOMINATED by goddamned fools currently fighting over stinking hillary and/or stinking trump...

...btw, up here in maine, i'm worried...there are LOTS of stoooooooooooopid (paul lepage) republican prohibitionists and MANY 'medical marijuana medallion holder$' who are teaming up on the 'no' side....

...strange bedfellows...as the goddamned fool republican prohibitionists would love to ban 'medical marijuana' too...

....the 'no' voters are authoritarian pieces of sh!t...all.... :mad:

[heavenlyboy34]

I don't understand why you guys support these kinds of measures or how they have anything to do with liberty. Why not just eliminate any laws prohibiting the use/growing of this drug and all other drugs? Let a person grow what they want and ingest what they want and don't try to protect them from themselves.

I don't want the government telling me certain drugs are good for me if I am a certain age. I know marijuana and alcohol aren't good for me. I think alcohol is the worst of them all. Not only should the government not restrict drugs but it should not promote them either.

Long before I ever heard of the "liberty movement" or Ron Paul, I was saying I thought drugs should not be illegal - but ALL drugs with NO age limits. I don't see any other way.

I was disturbed in 2012 when Ron Paul said he thought marijuana should be handled like alcohol, as if that works at all well. Get rid of the age limit and you at least get rid of some the attraction. Give control back to the parents.

I don't want marijuana to become a thing you are "supposed" to do just like alcohol has been my whole life.

at least it didn't look like any of these used the term "recreational" - as if I am supposed to think there is something recreational to do with the stuff.

Someone help me if I am missing something.

Thanks.

It's just PART of the larger attempt to push for ending prohibition. Gotta start somewhere.

[heavenlyboy34]

Will track the official results here. Anyone have some predictions to make? I'll say California by 12, Maine by 6, Massachusetts by 5, Nevada by 5, and Arizona will lose by 1. I'll be very happy with 4 out of 5 though, on the legalization initiatives. There are also 4 MMJ initiatives on the ballot.

Pretty sure it will fail in AZ. Out of state money has been fueling the anti-205 propaganda campaign quite well. :(

[jct74]

I don't understand why you guys support these kinds of measures or how they have anything to do with liberty. Why not just eliminate any laws prohibiting the use/growing of this drug and all other drugs? Let a person grow what they want and ingest what they want and don't try to protect them from themselves.

Because a straight vote on just eliminating marijuana laws, with no age restrictions or taxation policies in place, probably wouldn't get above 20%.



Long before I ever heard of the "liberty movement" or Ron Paul, I was saying I thought drugs should not be illegal - but ALL drugs with NO age limits. I don't see any other way.

A vote to legalize ALL drugs with no age restrictions in place wouldn't even get above 10%.

[brandon]

This is what I'm most interested in seeing results of tonight. Here's hoping the east coast can pick up a state or two for legal recreational

[jct74]

Early results for MMJ in Florida, looking good. Needs 60% to pass.


3% Reporting

Yes
69.3%
2,564,309

No
30.7%
1,138,017

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/florida/

[dannno]

This is what I'm most interested in seeing results of tonight. Here's hoping the east coast can pick up a state or two for legal recreational

Almost everybody I know in CA is voting NO on 64.. I voted YES but I am not sure I want it to pass, sorta undecided. It actually increases several penalties. Right now it's a $100 fine. It will be a $500 fine for those under 21 under the new law, and if you share a joint with someone under 21 it could potentially be a $500 fine.

Of course there are a lot of other reasons, such as the taxes and regulations that will come from it, to where a lot of people are just like "hmm, maybe we should leave it like it is.." It's already really easy for anybody over 18 to get a doctor's rec and grow their own. Most towns have several dozen medical delivery services, it comes right to your door.

[Brian4Liberty]

Almost everybody I know in CA is voting NO on 64.. I voted YES but I am not sure I want it to pass, sorta undecided. It actually increases several penalties. Right now it's a $100 fine. It will be a $500 fine for those under 21 under the new law, and if you share a joint with someone under 21 it could potentially be a $500 fine.

Of course there are a lot of other reasons, such as the taxes and regulations that will come from it, to where a lot of people are just like "hmm, maybe we should leave it like it is.." It's already really easy for anybody over 18 to get a doctor's rec and grow their own. Most towns have several dozen medical delivery services, it comes right to your door.

The "marijuana community" and CA Libertarian Party recommended a "no" vote.

[Sumthinorother]

Because a straight vote on just eliminating marijuana laws, with no age restrictions or taxation policies in place, probably wouldn't get above 20%.




A vote to legalize ALL drugs with no age restrictions in place wouldn't even get above 10%.

Thanks for the replies everyone!. Maybe my post wasn't as stupid as I started to think it was after I posted it. I mean it IS how I think the issue should be handled, but after I posted I thought, man, I am forgetting that right now there are still federal laws covering the various drugs, and so far the federal government hasn't tried to enforce the federal laws that oppose these marijuana state laws, but it might if a state was to extend it to other drugs, and that is part of why no one has extended it to other drugs. Is this also correct?

Either way, I see what you are saying about doing it gradually a step at a time and sticking with what is likely to pass, but I still can't see myself voting for these as they are written.

It's kinda like how I am very pro-life, but I don't like these laws based on if the baby can feel pain. I mean I do feel bad that more babies might die without them, but I fear it can lead to killing anyone who can't feel pain, which could include all sorts of scenarios. In supporting such laws, I'd also now be conceding that certain babies are less in need of protection than others, so there's no reason to assume that future laws would continue to extend the protected age range; the distinction instead may come to be more and more accepted as fact.

I'd probably wait until decriminalization at the federal level is achieved, though I know nobody wants to hear that, and try to re-educate people on why age restrictions are worse instead of better and why it should be "repeal" instead of "legalize", etc.

I know that's not what anyone wants to hear.

I'm glad we are pretty much in agreement on how things should end up though.

Thanks.

[jct74]

Florida MMJ


52.6% Reporting

Yes
70.5%
5,024,743

No
29.5%
2,099,766

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/florida/

[jct74]

Results starting to come in for MA, Question 4


0.2% Reporting

Yes
51.5%
8,154

No
48.5%
7,678

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/massachusetts/


I'm most excited for Massachusetts legalizing out of all the states. Very important strategic implications for the legalization movement, being a state of 7 million people and very close to the New York City metropolitan area, and considering that no other eastern state has legalized yet. Some of the eastern states are already considering legalizing, I think if MA wins it could set off a chain reaction of other states such as Vermont and New Jersey.

Of course California will have the biggest impact, being a state of 40 million people, but it is already pretty much a given that it will pass. Massachusetts is what I have my eye on.

[jct74]

Results starting to come in for MMJ in North Dakota. Haven't heard any news or polling about this race so far.


1.2% Reporting

Yes
56.2%
977

No
43.8%
762

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/north-dakota/

[jct74]

Results starting to come in for MMJ in Arkansas. This is for Issue 6 (the weaker amendment without homegrow) that was the remaining MMJ initiative on the ballot after Issue 7 got removed 12 days before election day.


0.1% Reporting

For
53.2%
86,296

Against
46.8%
76,009

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/arkansas/

[angelatc]

jmdrake would have been estatic tonight.

[jct74]

Florida has been officially called for for MMJ amendment! Nice try Adelson you rotten piece of shit!


75.2% Reporting

Yes
71.1%
6,083,174

No
28.9%
2,474,420

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/florida/

[jct74]

Very tight in MA early on, but Suffolk county which is the heart of Boston hasn't been counted yet.


6.4% Reporting

Yes
50.2%
246,860

No
49.8%
245,156

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/massachusetts/

[jct74]

Early results in Maine to legalize marijuana


4.6% Reporting

Yes
53.4%
35,836

No
46.6%
31,250

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/maine/

[newbitech]

Florida has been officially called for for MMJ amendment! Nice try Adelson you rotten piece of $#@!!


75.2% Reporting

Yes
71.1%
6,083,174

No
28.9%
2,474,420

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/florida/

Huge margin here. Last time around we had majority but didnt hit the 60% threshold.

Next up is recreational. Time to start investing in the biz opportunities. Fl is the last state I would think would make any form of MJ legal.

[jct74]

lead has increased in Massachusetts as Boston area results come in


17.3% Reporting

Yes
52.2%
633,656

No
47.8%
579,932

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/massachusetts/

[jct74]

looking good for MMJ in North Dakota


40.5% Reporting

Yes
60.6%
59,241

No
39.4%
38,453

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/north-dakota/

[jct74]

Starting to come in for MMJ in Montana. This is an initiative to undo recent changes that legislators made to an MMJ initiative that passed several years ago, effectively killing it. I saw a poll for this initiative recently that actually showed it losing.


0.1% Reporting

Yes
53.8%
38,841

No
46.2%
33,319

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/montana/

[jct74]

Arizona legalization is losing.


11.6% Reporting

Yes
46.5%
626,458

No
53.5%
722,068

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/arizona/

[GunnyFreedom]

Arizona legalization is losing.


11.6% Reporting

Yes
46.5%
626,458

No
53.5%
722,068

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/arizona/

McCain Country. :(

[jct74]

Maine and Massachusetts still winning by a few points. I think both will pass.

Meanwhile, results coming in for Nevada.


1.1% Reporting

Yes
42.5%
5,441

No
57.5%
7,373

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/nevada/

[jct74]

North Dakota legalizes medical marijuana, race has been called.


71.5% Reporting

Yes
64.1%
122,371

No
35.9%
68,511

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/north-dakota/

[jct74]

California has already been called. Legalization coming to 39 million more people. :cool:


11.6% Reporting

Yes
54.8%
1,154,597

No
45.2%
950,432

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/california/

[jct74]

Massachusetts has been called. Fuck yeah!!!


100% reporting

Yes
54%
1,745,945

No
46%
1,513,304

(source: google)

[brandon]

Nice!!! Road trip time. What is the timeline for Mass rolling out retail stores?

[jct74]

Maine legalization still pretty close, but already two thirds reporting.


67.6% Reporting

Yes
50.5%
524,650

No
49.5%
513,466

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/maine/

[jct74]

Arkansas has been called for legal MMJ


87.9% Reporting

For
52.6%
509,569

Against
47.4%
458,716

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures

[devil21]

They're all going to pass with the exception of maybe one.

[dannno]

California has already been called. Legalization coming to 39 million more people. :cool:


11.6% Reporting

Yes
54.8%
1,154,597

No
45.2%
950,432

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/california/

Plastic bags also banned for 39 million people :p

[opal]

good news for Fl.. now how do I suddenly get PTSD?

[CaseyJones]

good news for Fl.. now how do I suddenly get PTSD?

I think you could claim this election gave you it

[opal]

well for some reason I cannot quote posts.. but this election.. ptsd.. WINNER! Now.. if my PCM goes for it - on the base.... yeah,,, that'll happen...

[jct74]

Nevada called for marijuana legalization. Adelson's home state, I love it. A bunch of other casinos fought against it too.


47.4% Reporting

Yes
53.8%
499,831

No
46.2%
428,989

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/nevada/

[heavenlyboy34]

Arizona legalization is losing.


11.6% Reporting

Yes
46.5%
626,458

No
53.5%
722,068

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/arizona/

Thnx for sharing ~hugs~. Successful out-of-state special interest-funded propaganda is successful. :(

[jct74]

yeah, it's official now in Arizona. Too bad, but still been a great night so far.


86.9% Reporting

Yes
47.8%
853,789

No
52.2%
931,708

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/arizona/




Arizona Rejects Marijuana Legalization
Voters approved medical marijuana by a razor-thin margin in 2010.

Jacob Sullum
Nov. 9, 2016

Yesterday Arizona voters, who approved medical use of marijuana by a razor-thin margin in 2010, declined to take the additional step of legalizing the drug for recreational purposes. With 68 percent of precincts reporting, the legalization initiative, Proposition 205, was opposed by 52 percent of voters.

Proposition 205 would have allowed adults 21 or older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in public, grow up to six plants at home, keep the produce of those plants at home, and give other adults up to an ounce at a time "without remuneration." It would have created a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to oversee the commercial production and distribution of marijuana products, with licensing preference given to operators of existing medical marijuana dispensaries, and imposed a 15 percent tax on the retail price.

Proposition 205 was supported by two Arizona congressmen, Raul Grijalva and Ruben Gallego, both Democrats. It was opposed by two other congressmen, Trent Franks and Matt Salmon, and by Gov. Doug Ducey, all Republicans. Supporters of the initiative raised $5.2 million, while opponents raised $5.6 million. The chief donor to the opposition campaign was Discount Tire, which is based in Scottsdale.

http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/09/arizona-rejects-marijuana-legalization

[jct74]

Montana initiative to restore MMJ program wins. Politico has called it.


83.2% Reporting

Yes
55.8%
226,409

No
44.2%
179,058

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/montana/

[jct74]

Montana Expands Access to Medical Marijuana
Voters respond to a legislative crackdown.

Jacob Sullum
Nov. 9, 2016

Yesterday Montana voters approved a ballot initiative aimed at expanding patients' access to medical marijuana, which the state legislature sharply restricted in 2011. With almost all ballots counted, the medical marijuana measure, I-182, was favored by 55 percent of voters.

Montana voters approved medical marijuana in 2004 by a wide margin. But in 2011 the legislature cracked down on medical marijuana suppliers, limiting them to three patients each, banning medical marijuana ads, and requiring state review of doctors who recommend marijuana to more than 25 patients in a given year.

I-182 allows production and distribution of marijuana by state-licensed providers for treatment of specified medical conditions and others subsequently added by the legislature. It eliminates the caps of three patients per provider and 25 per doctor, adds post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of qualifying conditions, and eliminates the requirement of a second doctor's opinion for patients seeking marijuana for relief of chronic pain.

http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/09/montana-expands-access-to-medical-mariju

[jct74]

Maine legalization still hanging tight, but looks like will pass. Probably won't know any further results until tomorrow.


88.3% Reporting

Yes
50.4%
691,304

No
49.6%
681,332

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/maine/

[Lucille]

SMH AZ got props 205 and 206 totally backwards.

[H. E. Panqui]

Maine legalization still hanging tight, but looks like will pass. Probably won't know any further results until tomorrow.


88.3% Reporting

Yes
50.4%
691,304

No
49.6%
681,332

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/maine/


...i think your numbers are wrong....i don't think 691,304 voted state-wide...if so, just barely....i believe our total state population is around 1.2 million....

...btw, i don't trust the vote-counters here...mark my word...the fux are working on a fix...the conservative republican scumbags at wvom squawk-talk-radio have been gnashing their teeth at the yes voters...

[GunnyFreedom]

// - charter schools

[jct74]

...i think your numbers are wrong....i don't think 691,304 voted state-wide...if so, just barely....i believe our total state population is around 1.2 million....

...btw, i don't trust the vote-counters here...mark my word...the fux are working on a fix...the conservative republican scumbags at wvom squawk-talk-radio have been gnashing their teeth at the yes voters...

yeah, I don't understand it either. The total vote count appears to be more than the state's population of 1.33 million according to wikipedia.

It's still too close to call BTW, with 98% reporting.


98% Reporting

Yes
50.2%
752,246

No
49.8%
745,872

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/ballot-measures/maine/



Prohibitionists are probably going to ask for a recount.


Legal Pot Opponents Considering Recount in Tight Race

By SUSAN SHARON
1 HOUR AGO

Question 1, the ballot measure that would tax and regulate recreational marijuana, remains too close to call nearly 24 hours after the polls closed on Tuesday. Supporters declared victory early Wednesday morning after the Bangor Daily News called the race in their favor, but opponents are refusing to concede.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, the Yes on One campaign is leading by about 3,500 votes. And for opponents, that’s just too close to call.

Scott Gagnon with Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, which is not ready to throw in the towel quite yet, says in addition to an already close margin, his campaign has become aware of several thousand ballots that have not yet been counted, including 2,700 absentee ballots in Scarborough that may not have been included in the town’s final tally.

“That’s important for us because, as of now, Scarborough was sort of in our win column. We’re also learning from the secretary of state’s office that some of the overseas ballots from service members have also not been counted, and that could be up to 4,000 ballots that have yet to be added,” he says.

At this point, Gagnon says, unless the results swing dramatically in favor of the Yes vote, his group is leaning heavily toward asking for a recount.

...

read more:
http://mainepublic.org/post/legal-pot-opponents-considering-recount-tight-race

[jct74]

Here's another article on the tight race in Maine.

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/maine-legalization-race-stays-crazyamazing-right-end


Apparently some medical marijuana growers in the state teamed up with prohibitionists to try to kill the initiative. Reading this kind of stuff pisses me off.


While the “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana in Maine” spent more than a million bucks on a massive TV ad buy, they faced a fierce, two pronged-attack from prohibitionists and medical marijuana growers opposed to legalization. As the campaign wound down, all three sides resorted to on-line name calling and live debates that often turned testy or raucous.

“I think there’s been a vast amount of misinformation going around about legalization of marijuana generally and what this specific initiative would do to the state,” said Alysia Melnick, political director for the campaign, just prior to being thrown out of the Longfellow Room. “I think if voters really understood what the facts are, we would be in a very different situation and we’d be up by a lot.”

While campaign manager David Boyer acknowledged that late-in-the-race fear-mongering by Gov. Paul LePage and the state attorney general didn’t help the legalization vote, he was more upset with what he views as betrayal by some in the medical marijuana community. Especially by Dr. Dustin Sulak, the state’s leading medical marijuana doctor.

“We’re disappointed Dr. Sulak sent an email to his patients urging them to vote no. He knows the benefits of marijuana and he knows that not everyone has access,” Boyer said. “It had us scratching our heads. And we’re disappointed in [Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine] for telling people to vote no. It’s just protectionism. We knew it was going to be close and we could have used their votes.”


LePage might try to screw with things too.


Back in the Longfellow Room, during the early hours of waiting for results, Melnick raised the spectre of possible interference by Maine Gov. Paul LePage. She’s not being paranoid. LePage has a history of screwing with referenda, especially when it comes to bond issues. The state still hasn’t borrowed about $11.5 million in conservation bonds approved by voters last year because LePage wants more timber harvesting on public lands as a trade-off.

What happens if LePage does try to mess with the will of the people, perhaps by ordering his department commissioners to slow-walk or endlessly delay the implementation process? “We’ll sue him,” Melnick answered grimly. Those aren’t empty words. Melnick is known across the state as a social justice lawyer who gets things done.

[ElkeSasser]

Only the California in the Southern States has the guts to do the thing. Other states can't do this due to low influx of legal taxes money. They are playing with the wrong foot in the illegal money game. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake once mentioned his concerns in a statement to the azcentral. Major legalized players are at the Western front or one with the low economic activities. My personal opinion is to legalize under a certain age limit, medical fitness and with strict supervision of Police and DEA. Legalizing definitely reduce the crime rate but increase the addiction rate by 14 percent (according to a University of Denver survey). When I was in Arizona and attending a seminar at http://militarybases.co/directory/fort-huachuca-army-base-in-cochise-az/ (where Ron Paul was Chief guest) on the topic of economy and circulation of drug money (this was 2012). I was sure that Arizona will never vote on the legalization of the pot, as, I have seen the anti-pot thinking in the political community of the Arizona (supposing it is depicting the locals thinking too).

[jct74]

It's finally official in Maine, although opponents are very likely going to ask for a recount.


100% reporting

Yes
50.2%
378,288

No
49.8%
375,668

http://www.cnn.com/election/results/states/maine/ballot-measures/1/1


The vote totals I previously posted from Politico were off by a factor of x2 btw.

[Suzanimal]

Mark Thornton of the Ludwig von Mises Institute on legalizing Marijuana

He starts at 11 minutes.

http://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?p=episode&name=2016-11-14_zfws111416.mp3

[tommyrp12]

What freedoms to they have now though? The legislators can mess with any part of the bill they do not like anyways, because it is not a constitutional amendment. But they're probably not going to screw with it too much, because then there would be a huge public outcry for going against the will of the people. My advice is vote for it. It will be a huge strategic win for the nationwide movement, with no eastern state having legalized yet and Massachusetts being close to the massive population center of New York City. Probably would kick off a domino effect of other eastern states legalizing too, which legislators in Vermont (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?490780-Vermont-Senate-approves-marijuana-legalization-16-13) and New Jersey (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?502351-Recreational-marijuana-for-N-J-Lawmakers-to-check-out-Colorado-s-budding-law) have recently looked at. If it loses though the prohibitionists will have a field day and the pressure on other eastern states to legalize will be much lessened.

I'll vote yes but reserve the right to say I told ya so when they ban it again.



http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu107/bentom187/577611520-850x478large_zpsdu3xj8g9.jpg
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ top law enforcement official went on the offensive Thursday against the legalization of recreational pot, arguing that the marijuana industry would resist curbs on the potency of its products and “always put profits ahead of people.”
Question 4 on Tuesday’s ballot would legalize possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and allow for retail sales of the drug, including in the form of edibles such as cookies or candy.
Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, is among several high-profile elected officials opposed to the ballot initiative, a list that also includes Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston’s Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh.

“Question 4 isn’t just about legalization — it’s about commercialization,” said Healey, who was joined by health care professionals who oppose the measure at a Beacon Hill news conference.
The measure’s language includes no specific limits on the potency of THC, the pyschoactive chemical in marijuana, for products sold in the state. Critics say today’s marijuana is generally at least six times more potent than it was in the 1970s.
“Maura Healey’s concern has no basis in fact and is yet another scare tactic to stop voters from putting the criminals who control the (marijuana) market today out of business,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group Yes on 4.
Marijuana companies have already signaled their intent to fight any restrictions, Healey said.
“Potency limits might actually be better for people, but they are bad for profits, they’re bad for the bottom line and they’re bad for a billion-dollar industry that will always put profits ahead of people,” the attorney general said.

If approved, the ballot measure would create a Cannabis Control Commission to regulate recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. Backers say the commission would have absolute authority” over edibles and other products sold in the state, including the power to impose limits on potency. ..............................................




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1h11xZ86MY

It is actually worse than I thought.

Just Like We Called It: Black Market Weed Dealers Will Still Make Bank Because The Government Wants To Tax Legalized Weed 28% And Add Crazy Regulations (http://turtleboysports.com/just-like-we-called-it-black-market-weed-dealers-will-still-make-bank-because-the-government-wants-to-tax-legalized-weed-28-and-add-crazy-regulations/)




Last October we warned potheads to vote No on Question 4, because the last thing any real pothead wants to see is the legalization of marijuana. We pointed out that when this is your campaign slogan:

You should never vote for it. Tax and regulate – nothing good comes out of either one of those words. The idea that taxation is a good thing when you’re living in a state like Massachusetts is clinically insane. We are talking about voluntarily handing over money to a body of people who just voted overwhelmingly to give themselves a 40% raise. This includes people like Representative Dylan Fernandez, who had*been in office*for all of one month when he voted for the bill. And when they’re not giving each other raises they are allocating funding for fraudulent non-profits that rip off the taxpayers, more food stamps for ratchets who sell them on Facebook, and looking to see which highways they can add more tolls to.

And we were 1,000% right:

Source:*Less than a year after Massachusetts voters approved legalizing marijuana and taxing it at a rate of 12 percent, lawmakers already seek a larger take of the dealer’s cut. In shifting marijuana from decriminalized to legal status, voters permitted a maximum tax of 12 percent on sales of the sweet leaf. Seven months later, the state legislature seeks to grab more of pot profits by permitting taxes as high as 28 percent. Apart from raising taxes, the 48-page omnibus bill currently before the Great and General Court seeks to expand a cannabis board to five members, prohibit localities from enforcing laws against the transportation or delivery of pot, maintain a database on people using medical marijuana.*The more than 54 percent who voted to legalize marijuana in November’s election authorized a tax of no more than 12 percent. The 28 percent tax represents a 133 percent increase over the initial rate. Legislators seek to hold a vote on Thursday.*




http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/14/government-ganja-greed-mass-seeks-to-more-than-double-pot-tax-7-months-after-legalization/


For pot dealers not keen on turning over their profits to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or eager to undergo annual audits, the law establishes a “division of cannabis enforcement” in the attorney general’s office regarding a product that voters just legalized and long ago decriminalized