Maine Becomes the Eighth State to Legalize Marijuana

[jct74]

Maine Chooses to Legalize Marijuana for Recreational Use

By PATRICK WHITTLE, AP
Nov 10, 2016

Maine residents have voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in their state.

The final results of the referendum were tabulated on Thursday. The count took nearly two days because of how close the race was, within a fraction of a percentage point, and The Associated Press made the call Thursday afternoon.

Supporters had already declared themselves the winners and had predicted home cultivation of marijuana would be legal by around Christmas.

"The Maine people have passed it, and we should work on implementing it," said Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey, of Auburn, who supported the ballot issue.

Medical marijuana was already legal in Maine.

People 21 or older will now be allowed to use up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana, and retail marijuana shops and social clubs could open around the state. Some municipalities have balked at allowing such businesses to open in their communities.

Opponents who had vowed to request a recount said on Thursday that they would meet to decide what to do next.

...

read more:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...ional-43450933

[jct74]

final numbers:


100% Reporting

Yes
50.2%
756,576

No
49.8%
751,336

http://www.politico.com/2016-electio...easures/maine/

[H. E. Panqui]

...you wouldn't believe how happy this old man is!...a lot of my fellows here have been brainwashed by the goddamned republican-cheerleading fools who dominate the radio dial where i am...these poor pathetic republican-radio parrots are always yacking, bitching and moaning about the horrid 'progressives'...[the marijuana prohibitionist fools are apparently oblivious to the fact alcohol prohibition was a major thrust of the original 'progressives']...btw, shamefully, several maine organizations and individuals were national leaders in the original goddamned foolery of alcohol prohibition...

....the cost$ have been hideous and most of the rot can't be mea$ured in federal reserve tokens...

...the willful stooooooooooopidity of many of these goddamned republican/crat fools is enough to make a normally peaceful guy like me salivate in anticipation of many more intellectual bitch-slappings for these progressive prohibitionists....i can hardly find anyone to debate anymore...these dummies were loud just 15 years ago...but today? well, let's just say many/most have learned to stfu around me...

...jct74, i think these numbers are close to true:

http://patch.com/maine/augusta/maine...-claim-victory

AUGUSTA, ME — The Pine Tree State is a whole lot more green. Maine voters approved legalizing marijuana by a razor-thin margin on Election Day Tuesday. The final results were not released until Thursday afternoon as multiple northern precincts finished reporting.
The measure was approved with a 50.2 percent majority. The final tally was 378,288 votes in favor and 375,668 opposed — a margin of just 2,620 votes. Opponents of the measure have indicated they may request a recount.
The yes side claimed victory Wednesday morning before the final results were tabulated.
“We’re excited that Mainers have chosen to adopt a more sensible marijuana policy, a policy in which we are not punishing Mainers for using a substance that is safer than alcohol,” David Boyer, the campaign manager for the yes side, said in a statement Wednesday morning. Boyer and supporters held a victory news conference in Portland Wednesday at about 11 a.m.

[jct74]

...you wouldn't believe how happy this old man is!...a lot of my fellows here have been brainwashed by the goddamned republican-cheerleading fools who dominate the radio dial where i am...these poor pathetic republican-radio parrots are always yacking, bitching and moaning about the horrid 'progressives'...[the marijuana prohibitionist fools are apparently oblivious to the fact alcohol prohibition was a major thrust of the original 'progressives']...btw, shamefully, several maine organizations and individuals were national leaders in the original goddamned foolery of alcohol prohibition...

....the cost$ have been hideous and most of the rot can't be mea$ured in federal reserve tokens...

...the willful stooooooooooopidity of many of these goddamned republican/crat fools is enough to make a normally peaceful guy like me salivate in anticipation of many more intellectual bitch-slappings for these progressive prohibitionists....i can hardly find anyone to debate anymore...these dummies were loud just 15 years ago...but today? well, let's just say many/most have learned to stfu around me...

...jct74, i think these numbers are close to true:

http://patch.com/maine/augusta/maine...-claim-victory

AUGUSTA, ME — The Pine Tree State is a whole lot more green. Maine voters approved legalizing marijuana by a razor-thin margin on Election Day Tuesday. The final results were not released until Thursday afternoon as multiple northern precincts finished reporting.
The measure was approved with a 50.2 percent majority. The final tally was 378,288 votes in favor and 375,668 opposed — a margin of just 2,620 votes. Opponents of the measure have indicated they may request a recount.
The yes side claimed victory Wednesday morning before the final results were tabulated.
“We’re excited that Mainers have chosen to adopt a more sensible marijuana policy, a policy in which we are not punishing Mainers for using a substance that is safer than alcohol,” David Boyer, the campaign manager for the yes side, said in a statement Wednesday morning. Boyer and supporters held a victory news conference in Portland Wednesday at about 11 a.m.

Thanks, the numbers in that article are correct, matching what CNN (and other organizations) are reporting.


100% reporting

Yes
50.2%
378,288

No
49.8%
375,668

http://www.cnn.com/election/results/...t-measures/1/1


Politico misreported the vote totals by a factor of x2 for some reason.


Anyways, glad to hear you are happy about all this. I'm pretty thrilled that this one squeaked out too... 4 out of 5 on the legalization initiatives is a great showing that is going to give the legalization movement even more momentum. Hopefully LePage and others don't try to screw with this thing... I have a feeling he might, especially because of the very close margin (less of a clear mandate from voters) and his history of messing with previous ballot initiatives.

[jct74]

and here we go with LePage threatening to block the initiative...

Gov. Paul LePage eyes delay on marijuana laws

Steve Collins
November 11, 2016

Whether Mainers will get to toke up without worrying about the police may depend on President-elect Donald Trump.

Gov. Paul LePage told a Portland radio station he “will be talking to Donald Trump about it" because he’s not sure if the new administration is going to enforce a federal law prohibiting the use of marijuana.

If Trump won’t clear the way for recreational use of the drug in Maine, LePage said, “then I have no choice except to not put this into play," despite a referendum endorsing it.

...

In talking about the marijuana ballot question, the governor sounded doubtful about implementing it. At one point, he mentioned, “if it goes into effect” after talking about administrative hurdles that officials have yet to figure out.

"Careful what you wish for," LePage said. "I'm worried about it."

LePage said Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, called Colorado’s legalization of recreational marijuana a boondoggle.

...

read more:
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/maine...a-laws/2028126

[H. E. Panqui]

...lepage is a special kind of goddamned republican fool....but radio-republicans and etc. assorted ignoramuses love him up here....

...here's an open letter to lepage and the goddamned fool republican prohibitionists:

...DUMBASS REPUBLICAN PROHIBITIONISTS AND OTHER REPUBLICAN-RADIO CONSTITUTIONAL IGNORAMUSES, you will note that before the federal government became involved in the goddamned fool idea of alcohol prohibition, A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WAS NEEDED.. [the 18th...subsequently repealed by the ?21st]

..this was because there was nothing in the constitution [prior to the 18th amendment] that allowed/authorized the federal government to become involved in 'prohibiting alcohol'...

....WELL GUESS WHAT, REPUBLICAN-RADIO ENTHUSIASTS, THERE IS NOTHING IN THE ORIGINAL CON. AUTHORIZING YOU GODDAMNED FOOL MARIJUANA PROHIBITIONISTS TO PROHIBIT MARIJUANA AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL!!!...YOU'LL NEED AN AMENDMENT LIKE YOUR GODDAMNED FOOL IDEOLOGICAL BRETHREN ENACTED WITH THE 18th..

...sorry for yelling...but sheesh these republicrat progressives, like lepage, are intolerably stooooooooooooooooooooooooopid...

...[radio-republicans are a special kind of stoooooooooooooooooooooooooopid]

[Keith and stuff]

It will happen in Maine for sure, even if it takes a new governor. Maine doesn't look likely to elect another Republican governor anytime soon, if ever, because of the new ranked choice voting system that just passed in Maine. https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Ranked...stion_5_(2016)

[jct74]

Opponents of legalized marijuana set to request recount, at cost of $500,000
The group intends to submit petitions by Wednesday, hoping the month-long recount will erase Question 1's unofficial winning margin of 4,402 votes.

BY GILLIAN GRAHAM
November 14, 2016

A leader of the group opposed to marijuana legalization said Monday that it will request a recount of votes on the statewide ballot question that passed by a narrow margin last week.

Such a recount, involving more than 757,000 ballots, could take a month to conduct and cost the state $500,000, the Secretary of State’s Office said Monday.

Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, which opposed Question 1 on the Nov. 8 ballot, is circulating petitions to collect the 100 signatures needed to request a recount. Scott Gagnon, campaign manager for the group, said the petitions will be turned in to the Secretary of State’s Office before the deadline at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The unofficial tally shows 381,060 votes in support of Question 1 and 376,658 opposed, a margin of 4,402 votes, less than 1 percent, according to unofficial results collected from communities across the state by the Associated Press and Portland Press Herald. The totals include about 4,000 absentee ballots received by the state from members of the military and Mainers living overseas.

...

read more:
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/11/1...lization-vote/

[robmpreston]

The Campaign Director for legalization in Maine was a hardcore RP guy

[UWDude]

Trump said during a Q&A during a rally, marijuana is for the states to decide.

Congrats Maine. Weed is even better when you aren't afraid the police are going to bust down your door and try to force you to rat out your dealer. Takes out a lot of the paranoia.

[parocks]

The Campaign Director for legalization in Maine was a hardcore RP guy

David Boyer. He was an official Ron Paul staffer. Eric Brakey was the #1 guy, Ron Paul sent him up here from NYC, David Boyer was the #2 guy, Ron Paul sent him up here from Baltimore.

Those 2, with help from others, won Maine for Ron Paul at the hard-fought convention, there was controversy and controversy and controversy. I was on their side, but the Mark Willis faction screwed things up big time. By 2014, Brakey was a State Senator and Boyer got hired to run the MPP arm of the effort. Boyer just won, and Brakey won with the most votes in the district in a long time.

So, Ron Paul is good at picking staffers. Listen to the staffers, do what the staffers say, the grassroots does not know best.

[parocks]

Trump said during a Q&A during a rally, marijuana is for the states to decide.

Congrats Maine. Weed is even better when you aren't afraid the police are going to bust down your door and try to force you to rat out your dealer. Takes out a lot of the paranoia.

Maine has decriminalized marijuana, a long long time ago. I think it was the 70s. I don't know what all the various fines are, but they're fines, a misdemeanor.

[pcosmar]

Weed is even better when you aren't afraid the police are going to bust down your door and try to force you to rat out your dealer. Takes out a lot of the paranoia.

This is true. I even have some Union Grown stuff.

[Natural Citizen]

This is why we can't get anything done. You guys are all smoked up.

[jct74]

Ballot by ballot, recount of marijuana legalization vote begins in Augusta
The review of as many as 700,000 ballots from roughly 500 communities could delay implementation of the law even if the results are not overturned.

BY GILLIAN GRAHAM
December 5, 2016


The recount of votes on Maine’s contentious marijuana legalization initiative began Monday in Augusta with volunteers slowly hand-sorting thousands of “Yes” and “No” ballots, one by one.

Volunteer counters occasionally set aside small numbers of ballots that could be challenged because they had been mismarked or may not have been counted properly. On one ballot, for example, a voter filled in the “o” in the word “No” instead of filling in the oval next to it. On another, a voter colored in circles above “Yes” but didn’t fill in the oval.

The painstaking recount got underway just over one month before the historic new law is set to take effect. The process of reviewing as many as 700,000 ballots from roughly 500 communities could delay implementation of the law even if the review does not uncover enough counting errors to overturn the results.

...

The rare statewide recount of the marijuana vote could take more than a month and cost $500,000, if it continues until all votes are counted. The state is collecting ballots first from larger communities and waiting to see how the recount progresses before gathering ballots from hundreds of smaller communities, a process that will require significant overtime for Maine State Police troopers.

...

read more:
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/12/0...-this-morning/




about that recount...

Maine Marijuana Opponents Can’t Get Enough Volunteers for Legalization Recount
Legalization proponents chipping in with extra volunteers.

Ed Krayewski
Dec. 7, 2016

Opponents of the Maine referendum to legalize marijuana, which passed by a margin of 4,073 votes, or half a percent, have been unable to muster together the 10 volunteers they were asked to contribute to a recount effort they've demanded.

The Portland Press Herald reports that No on 1, which requested a recount, has not offered a full list of volunteer counters to authorities—instead, proponents of marijuana legalization (Yes on 1), have offered additional volunteers for the recount process in order to prevent delays. The recount will continue until December 16, then resume on January 1 after the holidays. Legalization is supposed to go into effect in January, although it's unclear when, and it will take at least one more year for the state to set up the regulatory structure it wants to impose on the marijuana industry in the state.

...

read more:
http://reason.com/blog/2016/12/07/ma...cant-get-enoug

[dannno]

On one ballot, for example, a voter filled in the “o” in the word “No” instead of filling in the oval next to it. On another, a voter colored in circles above “Yes” but didn’t fill in the oval.

Hah, really gets to the crux of the issue, doesn't it?

[jct74]

Maine Legal Marijuana Opponents End Recount, Conceding Defeat

BY TOM ANGELL
DECEMBER 17TH, 2016

More than a month after Election Day, the opposition to Maine’s marijuana legalization initiative is conceding defeat and ending its push for a total statewide recount of the votes.

“We promised folks that if we came to a point where we could not see any chance of reversing the result, we would not drag the process out,” Newell Augur, legal counsel for No on 1, said in a press release on Saturday. “We are satisfied that the count and the result are accurate.”

After the results were counted on November 8, the legal marijuana measure won by just 4,073 votes.

That was close enough for opponents to request a recount without having to pay for it themselves.

Through Friday, approximately 30 percent of the votes had been recounted — including from all of the towns that opponents hand-picked as areas they thought they could best gain support — but it wasn’t enough to reverse the result. According to reports, the result only shifted by about 70 net votes.

The recount effort had been slated to recess through the holidays until the new year, unless opponents decided to conceded defeat. That’s what they decided to to on Saturday.

...

read more:
http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2...ceding-defeat/

[jct74]

LePage verifies marijuana vote, making possession of small amounts legal Jan. 30
But he also urges legislators to impose a moratorium on sales until they have set up regulations for the drug, a process that could take at least nine months.

BY SCOTT THISTLE
January 3, 2016

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has signed a proclamation verifying the results of a November ballot question on recreational use of marijuana, and Mainers will be able to legally possess and grow the drug Jan. 30.

However, there will be no place to legally purchase marijuana until lawmakers and state officials set up a regulatory program and establish rules for retail sales, a process that could take nine months or more.

LePage confirmed the proclamation Tuesday during a talk show on WVOM radio in Bangor. But he also called on the Legislature to place a moratorium on the sale of marijuana, which voters approved by a narrow margin, until lawmakers could work out all the details, including providing funding to set up a regulatory framework for legal sales.

Under the new law, adults 21 and older will be allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana or grow up to six plants. LePage issued the proclamation Saturday, and the law goes into effect 30 days later, which is Jan. 30.

...

LePage also said he believed a moratorium would be appropriate so lawmakers can determine if Maine’s medical marijuana laws would still be necessary once recreational marijuana is being sold over the counter.

...

read more:
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/0...gal-marijuana/