There’s a petition circulating in Florida for a medical-marijuana ballot initiative. If it gets on the ballot, we’ll see. I’m thinking a lot of conservative retirees might vote for it just because they need it.
Well, as I’ve said in a couple of other threads; Gov. Pawlenty (R-Minnesota) vetoed medical marijuana back in 2009 because Law Enforcement opposed it. When it came up again last year, Gov. Dayton (D) opposed it because… you guessed it, Law Enforcement opposed it.
It will come up again this year, and the Governor has asked Law Enforcement to sit down with proponents and hash about an agreement, but that’s like asking the Tea Party to sit down with the Democrats and hash out a tax increase. It’s not going to happen. Surveys are showing 65 to 75% public support, but we’re being hamstrung by this idiot idea that Law Enforcement has some say in Law Making.
Dayton will be up for re-election this year, but he’s only in his first term and we don’t have term limits. Right now I’m not seeing a challenger who would be any better on the issue, and despite public support for the issue, he may decide to keep opposing it in the name of that all important Law Enforcement support.
So honestly, I’m thinking Minnesota will be further down the list than it rightfully deserves to be.
Oh, and straight out legalization? Law Enforcement and Parent Organizations will have the collective vapors at the very idea. I expect it will be legal in Iowa and Wisconsin long before here.
A slim majority of Hoosiers (53%) support decriminalization. For ages 18-24, 69% support it. But the politicians talk like Reefer Madness was a documentary, so I could see your gut being right.
I’m takin’ all bets… gay marriage or marijuana… first to reach 40 states!
As it stands now with the number of states where something is legal:
Gay marriage - 16
MJ - 2
Gay marriage is going to win because it is a civil rights issue and you have the courts coming in when voters do not support it. Courts are not going to find laws against MJ unconstitutional anytime soon.
Yes, it is already legal in Washington too. Retail sales will begin sometime this Spring.
The reason for the delay is because the law requires tracking of the product from grower, to processor, to retail. The legal growers were not allowed to start their crops until mid-December. No formerly illegally grown pot is allowed into the legal system.
This. The schedule for implementation was lengthier than Colorado’s, but the stores are expected to open to open sometime this summer.
It looks like Oregon will likely have it on the ballot this November.
I’d say western states before eastern states because so far, this has been done through the initiative process which is more common on the western side of the country. Though politicians might not care whether or not marijuana is legalized, at this point, no one really wants to be the guy who proposed legalization. It’s much easier to have the general electorate vote for it without legislators’ direct involvement.
It looks like the Washington legalization still leaves personal growing though illegal from what I read.
Yep, the only legal pot is the stuff you buy from the state. Can’t have any un-taxed stuff floating around.
Here is a FAQ site from the Washington Liquor Control Board, who is overseeing the law.
That’s too bad, being able to grow your own would be the biggest selling point for me. No more corn and sunflowers to hide your crop. 
The state is going to have to grow a shitload of pot to keep up with demand. A Rand Corp. study to try to determine how much pot was needed estimated that **175 metric tons ** (385,000 US pounds) of pot was smoked in Washington in 2013, before legalization.
The issue is going to be keeping up with demand and keeping the price low enough to encourage people to buy the state product.
I’m surprised with Illinois being on the list. I personally think it’s a middle-of-the-pack state and if everything goes well with Colorado, I wouldn’t be surprised in legalization within the next 20 years. I mean, they’ve already decriminalized it for medical use (although that’s not completely enacted yet.)
States are not that easy to predict on this issue. NORML states Mississippi " has decriminalized marijuana to some degree. Typically, decriminalization means no prison time or criminal record for first-time possession of a small amount for personal consumption. The conduct is treated like a minor traffic violation."
I think there will be a enduring divide between states that are willing to legalize (like Washington, Colorado, and maybe Maine and Alaska in the near future) and states that will only want to decriminalize - essentially stop prosecuting and enforcing but keep laws on the books.
Things can change quickly - it was not that long ago that Colorado was a rather conservative state.
Virginia. Virginia will be the last to allow SSM, and will only do so kicking and screaming. I’m gonna guess that 85% of federal law enforcement lives in NoVA. They aren’t going to vote to legalize MJ any time soon. My WAG.
Georgia is actually talking about renewing our Medical MJ law that was passed in the '80’s. But delisted all the conditions and Doctors allowed since.
I agree unless Mexico makes it legal first then they would have to reconsider with all of that money going out of state and costing way too much to check everyone coming back across.
First things first … the state has to test the muddy waters with making marijuana medically legal for people with problems that only marijuana can solve, which in California just happens to be anyone with a $100 bill and a pain in the neck.
My son smokes marijuana, but I quit even though I qualify. He told me that he went into a large unnamed pot shop in San Francisco armed with all of his legal papers and marijuana medical card, but the man behind the counter said, “we just want to see your drivers license man”.
So depending on where you live in the state of California it is already legal and if you get caught with less than one ounce without a medical card the fine is $100 with no jail time.
I think Alaska is next and then Nevada … tourist areas will be next and good ole Texas last … Tennessee and West Virginia could grow some killer weed that’s for sure.
I think it should be legal for over fifty lol I weigh both sides with little doubt it’s going to cause a lot more problems than it will solve.
(See, people have just been translating scripture wrong all these years. The Bible says if two men lay together they should be stoned. It wasn’t talking about throwing rocks idiots!)
I added Illinois as a gut feeling. I’ve lived in Illinois my whole life. Illinois is really 2 states: Chicago/Cook County and the Rest Of The State. I hear that cook county- or is it Chicago only?- has made carrying less than a certain amount of weed a misdemenor, with a ticket issued. Unless it becomes State law (it will, btw, my prediction is 200 years from now…) the rest of this state will just continue locking people up, and complaining about being broke.
Illinois is interesting, away from Chicago, and not that far away, one could believe that time had stopped about 50 years or so ago.
TN, FL, and NJ are home to the headquarters of the three biggest for-profit prison companies in the US, so don’t expect them to be in any rush. Locking people up as long as possible for any reason you can is just good business.
Bump.
8 States to Vote on Weed in Nov
California, Nevada, Arizona, Massachusetts and Maine voting on recreational legalization.
Florida, Missouri and Arkansas voting on medical legalization.