I believe Colorado is going to try to push for single payer in 2016, but I could be wrong. I read that California is not too serious about 2016, and may push their single payer ballot initiative to 2020.
Oregon may push for UHC, I have no idea. So single payer probably isn’t realistic on the state level in 2016, but maybe in 2020.
Ohio, surprisingly, looks pretty certain to have recreational marijuana on this November’s ballot. There is a lot of divisiveness about the structure of the system, however, with the most organized group wishing to form a cartel of sorts of dispensers as a way to limit access and ease into the system. Ohioans, please feel free to correct any misrepresentations I have made here.
There’s also now going to be a vote on banning monopolies from being placed in the constitution by initiative. If it’s successful, the Secretary of State says it will void the marijuana initiative even if it’s successful (even if marijuana gets more votes).
Here’s an update on the Ohio legalization campaign. They still need more signatures to qualify for the November ballot, but I think it has a fair chance of passing: Will Ohio legalize marijuana this year?
I intend to vote against it if it does get on the ballot. It limits marijuana cultivation to the 10 specific sites enumerated in the text, all of which have been invested in by people who have financially supported the initiative. It’s a dirty piece of work.
The amendment lost, 64-36%. It appears that I was not the only one who supports legalization but thought that this amendment was a particularly ugly way to go about it.
There’s time and a proposal, but I don’t know that there’s money. Initiatives are hard to get on the ballot without a corporate sponsor to buy signatures.
I’m really sad about yesterday’s loss in Ohio. From what I saw on some liberal blogs, many liberals didn’t vote yes on Issue 3 because a corporation would’ve gotten rich. In life, there are things called trade-offs. Liberals should’ve been happy to have industry, a powerful force in a capitalist economy, team up with a cause like legal weed. Talk about making perfect the enemy of the good.
Other states have legalized pot without the monopoly/oligarchy aspects that the amendment had. Their marijuana industries seem to be doing just fine. This was not a marijuana legalization amendment; it was a create money farms for 20 specified investors amendment. I’ll happily vote yes on a clean amendment, but that isn’t what I was voting on yesterday.
“Get money out of politics,” people say, usually to rousing applause. But shoot down a ballot initiative that would literally enshrine profits for specific corporations in the state constitution and we’re accused of making perfect the enemy of the good.